Erik Morales, up until two years ago, was sailing along in fine fashion. He was 47-1 with 34 knockouts, winner of world titles in three weight classes and a resident in everyone’s top 10 pound-for-pound poll. In some, he was in the top 5.
He has gone 1-3 since and no longer is considered a top 10 pound-for-pound fighter. The decline started with a decision loss to his hated rival Marco Antonio Barrera in their rubber match two years ago this month. Morales rebounded from that and won a decision over Manny Pacquiao, but then Morales moved up to lightweight for one fight and lost a decision to solid, yet unheralded, Zahir Raheem.
And in Morales’ last fight, in January, he was taken apart by Pacquiao and stopped in the 10thround in January at Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.
Morales and Pacquiao will get it on a thirdtime tonight in the super featherweight main event at Thomas & Mack. Morales, of Tijuana, is fully aware that another loss will make it nearly impossible for him to regain his status as a top-level fighter.
“It’s the biggest fight of my career for a lot of reasons,” said Morales, 30. “I have not done well my last few fights and I need to prove to a lot of people that I
——————————————————————————–
Advertisement
——————————————————————————– still belong at the elite level of the sport.” Morales believes he will be able to accomplish his goal for two reasons: He has undergone personal velocity training the past two months, and he brought his father Jose back into his corner as trainer. He fired Jose Morales after his lackluster performance against Raheem in September 2005 at Staples Center.
Although Morales always has made weight in every division in which he has fought, he always has had difficulty doing so. Making the 130-pound super featherweight limit for his rematch with Pacquiao 10 months ago was a more arduous task than usual.
And it showed in the fight.
“I was doing fine in the first five rounds, but then I got tired and my legs were gone,” Morales said recently from his training camp in the Otomi Mountains north of Mexico City.
“If you see the fight, you see that my legs were gone after six rounds and that I fought the last four rounds on heart alone, looking to land one big punch.
“But I never did.”
Enter personal velocity training, which is designed to boost muscle and joint strength as well as speed and stamina. It’s also supposed to improve one’s balance, agility, flexibility and power.
“It has been a real eye-opener for me,” Morales said. “They have done some things that have really rejuvenated my body, from healing some old injuries to getting me in the shape that I need be in to get ready for a fight and not worry about the weight.
“When I won my first title at 21 all I needed was six weeks to get ready. But now at 30 I know that it takes more time for me to get ready and it (personal velocity) is something that I need to do to stay at the top level of competition.”
Bob Arum, who promotes Morales, raves about personal velocity. He has put two of his other fighters – Jose Luis Castillo and Miguel Cotto – on it. He said that it helps a fighter lose weight properly instead of losing it in a way that causes loss of muscle, which is what happens when one starves oneself.
