Erik Morales is looking to cement his legacy, as the best, and most decorated boxer in the history of Mexico.
That is no easy task, when your competition are the likes of Julio Cesar Chavez, Marco Antonio Barrera, Ricardo Lopez, and Salvador Sanchez.
Yet, no fighter from the Aztec nation?s fistic pantheon has ever captured world titles in four divisions.
Not Chavez, not arch-nemesis Barrera, nor the late Sanchez.
And Morales looks to capture his fourth division crown against a man recognized as the best, el mejor, lightweight in the world right now – fellow countryman Juan Manuel Marquez.
The records book show that Morales held world championships as a super featherweight, featherweight, and junior bantamweight. Fans remember El Terible, ?The Terrible?, as a skinny pug from Tijuana who had a fighting spirit few will ever match.
For those who have seen it, his first fight with Barrera is the sort of sanctioned violence that etches itself within your long-term memory. The raw intensity of Barrera – Morales I was best summed up by my wife, ?these guys are fighting like they one owed the other money.?
Memorable bouts against Barrera, Korean In Jin Chi, and the last official victory over pound for pound king Manny Pacquiao, were not enough to satisfy Morales? thirst for the ring.
Maybe it was financial woes, with so many characters in Morales? wallet during his peak, but after a two year rest from boxing, Morales climbed back into the ring three times in 2010 trying to erase the memory of four straight defeats before his 2007 retirement.
Performances against journeymen provided ?Ws? on Morales? docket last year, but it did little to conjure up the magic of old
The odds will be against an older, shop worn Morales when he goes against master counter-puncher Marquez, but if man said to be born in a boxing gym has anything left in his body, it might be the barn burner that hurls Morales to the top of Mexico?s heap of legends.
If not, longtime fans will likely file the defeat into a dark corner of their minds, and continue celebrate Morales for the nights in which he made boxing magical.
