With the recent announcement that the proposed showdown between Mexican future hall of fame entrants Juan Manuel Marquez and Erik Morales had been scrapped, with it looked to have gone El Terrible’s last chance of winning a world title in a fourth weight class.
Morales’ solution to this pugilistic predicament? Challenge the most dangerous puncher in the division in Marcos Maidana.
For some idea as to why this might not have been one of his better notions, the last time the once iron-chinned Morales was in against a big puncher he was knocked out in three rounds courtesy of Manny Pacquiao. That fight took place in 2006 at super featherweight and since then Morales has only climbed further up in weight and deteriorated further.
Certainly Maidana can be out-boxed as Amir Khan proved, but against a much smaller and now fairly slow opponent like Morales this isn’t likely to happen for a full twelve rounds. What Khan did with his height, reach and speed Morales would have to do on skill alone, which at one time he might have been capable of. Given Maidana’s size advantage and Morales’ much diminished punching power at light welterweight however, this now isn’t likely to say the least.
Equally as puzzling as why Morales would target Maidana of all people is why the WBA has seen fit to elevate the bout by making the winner the WBA world light welterweight champion.
Maidana is deservedly ranked in the top four in the world at light welterweight, but had his chance at a world title against Amir Khan last year and lost. To hand him the belt he couldn’t win against Khan in his very next fight, and it has to be said, against what is now a badly faded fighter, firstly does a disservice to Khan himself, and secondly makes the light welterweight title picture a lot more confusing than it was before.
Since the WBA made the decision to gift either Maidana or Morales a world title, Amir Khan has now been elevated to super champion, which comes after a grand total of three defenses.
The best that could be said about the situation would be that the WBA is pandering to the wants of a past his best fighter in Morales who is desperate to win a title at a fourth weight by any means necessary. At worst, they are trying to squeeze extra funds out of a currently talent filled division by having two active champions for no other discernible reason than lining their own coffers.
Even if Morales isn’t successful against Maidana, and odds are he won’t be, he still might have a chance of winning his long sought after fourth title. The WBC’s latest rankings now have him as number one contender to champion Tim Bradley, despite having never fought an opponent inside the consensus top 50 at the weight.
Ted Jones, Pitt: “Maidana will destroy Morales, why did Morales want this fight when there are easier options out there?”
