Contrary to the predictions of most, former three weight champion Erik Morales lasted the distance against hard punching Marcos Maidana on Saturday night, gaining new-found respect from fans and the media alike who had as good as written him off.
Morales made Maidana miss, traded punches, and even staggered his larger Argentinian foe on several occasions, and made the fight close enough that some watching felt he had done enough to get the decision.
In the end Maidana won by scores of 116-112 twice and 114-114 and once again became the WBA interim light welterweight champion.
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The headlines this morning were rightly all about Morales however, who at 34 gave a performance most felt he was no longer capable of.
As well as he fought though, the fact is that Morales still lost the fight, and against a fighter who has yet to hold a full world title.
From the offset he was visibly the smaller man and against a faster or more skillful opponent might not have come out of the bout looking as good as he did.
Those kinds of opponents are now queuing up around the block to take on Morales, and other than the possibility of a rematch, which both he and Maidana have said they want, he will likely meet one of them in his next outing.
Despite the vintage performance last night, many would still like to see Morales retire. After all he still has nothing left to prove and no obvious reason to continue.
That was more or less the same position he was in before the Maidana bout however, and retirement therefore looks unlikely for the time being.
That being the case bouts against the likes of Juan Manuel Marquez, Zab Judah and even perhaps an apparently restless Tim Bradley are all options.
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For Maidana the most obvious next bout would be to unify his new interim title by fighting WBA champion Amir Khan, except for the fact that it already happened last year.
Why the WBA sanctioned Maidana vs. Morales as an interim title fight when they already have an active champion, not to mention one who had already beaten the heavy favorite to take the interim belt, we may never know.
The last time out Khan beat Maidana after a late scare and won’t be eager to fight him again given the fact that he would have very little to gain from it.
The risk factor of facing Maidana aside Khan also has his next two bouts mapped out with a title defense against Paul McCloskey next weekend and expected negotiations after that for a unification bout with WBC/WBO champion Tim Bradley.
If not Khan then, Maidana’s only remaining route to a world title would appear to be to go through the ever unpredictable Zab Judah, who also happens to be the current IBF champion.
Currently the other three major titles are held by two fighters set to fight each other. Maidana has also expressed little interest in moving either up or down in weight and given that he has yet to win a major title has little need to.
Judah squeaked past another hard hitting Argentinian in Lucas Matthysse to win his title, and Maidana’s possibly heavier hands could well get the job done where Matthysse’s body attack didn’t.
Outside of Judah, who has also mentioned taking on Juan Manuel Marquez of late, taking on the winner of the upcoming bout between Devon Alexander and Matthysse could also be a potentially promising option.
An all Argentine battle between two brawlers with the ferocity of Matthysse and Maidana would be a sure fire hit. Taking on Devon Alexander would give Maidana the chance to raise his standing in the division.
Juan Blanco, Pitt: “Maidana and Morales need to fight again, too close to call the first time and Maidana gassed out”
