It seems a lifetime ago, but in reality it?s a mere seven and a half years since Erik Morales burst on the scene with a performance that suggested a special kind of fighter.
Cut back to September 1997. Daniel Zaragoza, the veteran?s veteran, is the WBC 122-lb. champion, a wizened, wily fighter that?s risen from the ash heap so many times that it seems he?s made a bargain with the devil.
Just three months shy of his 40th birthday, Zaragoza is in his fourth reign as a champion, and is 14-4-3 in title fights. Known for his battler?s face, a penchant for cutting, rough tactics, and smoking four cigarettes a day, Zaragoza is a virtual miracle as a lighter-weight fighter ? his kind rarely stay at the top level past the age of 30, much less pushing 40. He is persistent, durable, and knows every trick in the book. And in 65 fights he?s only been knocked out twice, once on cuts by Tracy Harris Patterson, the other a ninth-round loss to hard-punching Paul Banke in the second bout of their blood-and-guts trilogy.
Virtually unknown, Morales is 26-0, and turned 21 the week of the fight. On paper, he would seem another fresh-faced prospect about to be taken into the dragon?s lair and taught the hard lessons of the ring. But instead, Morales unleashes a vicious assault in the early rounds, pushing the pace, and then he turns up the pressure en route to a vicious 11th-round knockout, thanks to a savage body blow that ended the bout. Zaragoza wasn?t Wilfredo Gomez, but he was a veteran champion who?d turned back many younger aspirants to his title ? including Wayne McCullough, and Banke twice ? and the overwhelming fashion in which Morales staked his claim suggested someone of note had arrived.
The fact that Morales wasn?t intimidated spoke volumes, and in the successive years there wasn?t a single instance where he didn?t deliver the same kind of tenacity when a boxing match turned into a test of heart.
In fact, since 1997, only Arturo Gatti has had so many fan-friendly fights as Morales, where even casual viewers are captivated by the intensity of a bonafide dogfight.
Saturday night, ?El Terrible? may be more like Daniel Zaragoza when he faces Manny Pacquiao in a 130-lb. showdown, in that this time he?s the veteran with the perceived mileage, the guy with the long road behind him, the endless wars he?s survived and mostly won that have skeptics wondering when the mileage will add up.
Certainly, if the bill is going to come due on Morales, there could be no better collector than Pacquiao, a hard-charging, big-punching whirlwind who?s made a habit of tearing into top Mexicans lately. With his brutal 11th round stoppage of Marco Antonio Barrera in November 2003, and a draw with Juan Manuel Marquez in May of last year that he may have been one bomb away from winning in the first round, Pacquiao?s confidence is at a peak as he approaches his dance date with Morales. He is young (26), has a top trainer in Freddie Roach, and seems to reside in that magical zone of an artist whose skills are jelling precisely at the right point in his career, when quality opposition is at a premium and people are recognizing him for his ability.
There are a lot of comparisons to be made in any fight, and coming into this one, The Corner thinks the best one is Alexis Arguello-Aaron Pryor. Pryor, an overwhelming pressure fighter, made the perfect foil for the precision boxing of Arguello, who in retrospect may have stepped up a weight class too high in tackling Pryor at 140. Despite his incredible punching power at lower weights, Arguello was unable to discourage Pryor, succumbing to a 14th-round knockout in a classic war. Both men have a little of Pryor in them, and a little Arguello.
The Corner thinks this fight could approach the intensity and momentum shifts of that one, because Erik Morales is the toughest son of a gun in the game when it comes to a dogfight. Outbox him and he can seem shiftless, disinterested. Outwork him in stretches, as Jesus Chavez and In-jin Chi were able to do, and he can seem like he?s virtually giving it away. But hit him a good shot on the chin and you spark his fighting instincts to kill or be killed, and that?s when he?s at his best. Pacquiao most definitely will do that, and that?s why Morales will give a career-defining performance, or a career-shortening one. There will be no idle rounds or time in this one ? he is going to have to fight off a demon in there.
As I get older, I try and hedge my picks against giving in to the rigors of age (33 here, thank you), and the predispositions of favoritism toward those in advanced years. But even factoring those in, I like Morales in this bout merely because he?s been in so many wars and hasn?t ever failed to deliver the goods, even in two close losses to Barrera, or perhaps especially so, because many people believed he won the fights he lost, and lost the first bout which he won. There is no easy prescription for this fight, but every great fighter has a reservoir in him, and it isn?t like Morales doesn?t know how to draw from it. Facing Pacquiao ? who showed adaptability and a good chin in fending off Marquez? late charge ? Morales needs to get his respect early to stem the onslaught, and make Pacquiao second-guess himself as to the wisdom of barreling in and tossing off those brain-rattling combinations.
On this score, Morales has the perfect weapon ? a straight right cross which he delivers with consistency and commitment. It is his signature punch, the same way Roy Jones? left hook could tell you how confident he was, or Larry Holmes? jab could take over a fight and put a man in handcuffs. Overly dramatic statements grow old in a column, and I?m loathe to use more than 27 per week, but truly, the entire tenor and tone of this fight rides on Morales? ability to deliver that whipsaw blow early in the fray. He must drill Pacquiao with the kind of authority and viciousness that throws the marker down early, lets him show who the bigger man is, if not the bigger puncher.
Pacquiao is a miniature version of Felix Trinidad, circa 1999-2000. He is tearing up good fighters and rising in weight like a force of nature ? amazingly, he started his career at 106 lbs., and held the WBC flyweight title. Physics will eventually catch up to you, but not if you can land the biggest bombs first.
I don?t think Morales has the style to play Bernard Hopkins to Pac Man?s Trinidad, but he can unleash some of that Big Man Hurt early and take the play away.
He has to. If he doesn?t, he will be in deep water.
Even then, he figures to make one hell of a fight. And that?s why this is such a great match. If everything goes wrong for both guys, they still are tough enough to find a way to win, or extract a bloody price for being overcome and beaten into submission. Nobody is going easy in this one, and both are going to leave everything in that ring Saturday night. This could be the night that ends one career, and/or severely shortens one or both guys? time in the ring.
That?s why I like Morales. He?s the old veteran this time, and sometimes knowing what Hell looks like is comfort enough to walk around the neighborhood before carjacking a ride out of there. The pick here is Morales by decision in a fight that sees both guys hit the deck, and is, at worst, a candidate for fight of the year. If it?s not, whoever wins will be fighter of the year, because both men are pound for pound entrants and anybody that dominates them has serious cachet to challenge for the top spot. Morales has been beaten twice by Barrera, but never dominated, never overwhelmed where he didn?t get his own serious licks in. If Pacquiao can do that, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Bernard Hopkins may have company at the top of the heap.
