LAS VEGAS ? On a night when everyone was worried about what might happen to an old Erik Morales, the old Erik Morales appeared instead.
Morales dropped a majority decision to Marcos Maidana on Saturday in the main event of a pay-per-view card at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on a night when many boxing experts feared for his safety.
Instead, Morales shocked the naysayers with a typically courageous effort, standing toe-to-toe with the power-punching Argentinean and giving as good as he got. After eight rounds, he was ahead 77-75 on one card and trailed 77-75 on the other two and there was a palpable sense that the crowd of 7,154 would see a stunning upset.
Maidana spoiled those dreams by closing strong, winning three of the final four to take a majority decision. Nonetheless, Morales was somehow a winner in defeat with a gutty performance in spite of overwhelming odds against him.
?He came out and fought a great fight,? said Robert Guerrero, who was brilliant in a one-sided decision over Michael Katsidis in a lightweight bout earlier on the card. ?He was in there. I thought he actually put up a better fight than the fight with Maidana and (Amir) Khan (in December). He came out and he worked and he put everything together. He sidestepped. I saw him hurt Maidana with a couple of body shots. He needs to get a few more fights under his belt, but he fought a great fight. He fought one of the toughest guys, who nobody wants to fight.?
Maidana won the interim World Boxing Association super lightweight title with the victory. Judges Jerry Roth and Adalaide Byrd had it 116-112 for Maidana, while Dick Houck had it 114-114. Yahoo! Sports had it 115-113 for Maidana, who was filled with praise for the former three-division world champion.
Maidana came out hard early and raked Morales with a punishing left hook to the body followed by an uppercut that closed Morales? right eye a minute into the fight. For the rest of the fight, Morales? right eye looked like someone had dropped a very large, very ripe plum on top of it.
Logic suggested that Maidana attack Morales? right side by firing left hooks. The wily Morales, though, was prepared for that and made Maidana pay when he tried the hook.
?My corner told me to attack that side, and I tried like hell, but I kept getting hit each time I tried it,? Maidana said.
Morales did not attend the post-fight news conference, as he was ordered by Nevada Athletic Commission doctors to go to the hospital to have his eye checked. But Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer spoke to him after the fight and said Morales was fine.
He certainly fought as if he were fine after a bit of a slow start. Morales was having trouble getting off in the first two or three rounds, and retreated to the ropes and tried to fend off an attacking Maidana.
Morales, though, has been known throughout his career for fighting fire with fire and he came roaring back in the middle rounds, firing combinations that seemed to stun Maidana on several occasions.
?There was one good punch that I really felt,? Maidana said. ?He never hurt me, but there was one punch I felt. But at the same time, I was playing possum to try to get him to throw so I could catch him with the counters.?
As great as Morales looked, the risk now is putting him in against another of the elite super lightweights. The 140-pound division is one of boxing?s deepest and includes a number of men a lot faster and harder to hit than Maidana.
In the afterglow of Morales? unexpectedly good performance, Golden Boy president Oscar De La Hoya was almost giddy and said he?d put his fighter up against any lightweight or super lightweight in the world.
That?s a stretch, because fast, hard punchers like Zab Judah, Timothy Bradley and Khan would cause Morales plenty of trouble.
?He fought the toughest, most dangerous (super lightweight) out there,? De La Hoya said. ?Maidana is the fighter who KO?d Victor Ortiz. He?s a fighter who gave Amir Khan a run for his money and all he could handle. He?s a guy nobody else wanted to fight, but Erik Morales really demonstrated tonight to everyone all over the world that he is here to stay and is here to fight the very best.?
Hopefully, logic and reason will eventually rule the day. Maidana is a tremendously powerful puncher, but he?s slow and has huge defensive flaws that nearly everyone he faces exploits.
It is another matter entirely to fight the skilled, fast fighters who populate the division. Morales needs to be matched carefully at this point, because he?s 34 and has taken a lot of punches.
He took plenty on Saturday, but he kept coming and won the respect of everyone who saw him perform. That was the Morales that became one of the sport?s top draws in the early part of the century.
Maidana left with nothing but respect for him.
?I?d put him on the same level as Khan,? he said. ?The only difference is that Amir is faster, but he runs. Erik didn?t run. He came to fight and he fought hard.?
He always does, and that?s why he?s such a big draw. But Golden Boy owes it to him to match him carefully, because the ending the next time may not be so joyous if it does not.
