Erik Morales

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Erik Isaac Morales (born September 1, 1976 in Tijuana, Mexico) is a professional boxer.

OVERVIEW

He is widely regarded among boxing cognoscenti and followers as one of the best pugilists currently in practice, having defeated every man he has fought in his professional career of 50 fights, while maintaining high popularity due to a very pleasing fighting style throughout his career. He is the Super-Featherweight champion of the world.

PRE-CHAMPIONSHIP LIFE

Morales had a somewhat disadvantadged upbringing. His father was a struggling gym-owner in the city's industrial zone, but wanted something better for his sons. However, at his own request, the young man was introduced to boxing at an early age, showing great promise, and in 1993, he fought his first professional fight. Given his rapid success in the 1990s, his initial desire to study Refrigeration Technology soon became moot.

CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY

In 1997, he became the first fighter ever to stop the acclaimed WBC world Bantamweight champion and now member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame, Daniel Zaragoza via knockout in eleven rounds. As it was the first time the champion had ever been unable to beat the count of ten, the fight was widely hailed as a 'passing of the torch' between the former champion (Zaragoza), and the new one (Morales).

In September of 1998, in another landmark fight, Morales knocked out former world champion Junior Jones of Brooklyn, New York. Jones went into the fight with a daunting record against Mexican fighters of 35 victories, and no losses, most notably including two victories over the previous champion, Marco Antonio Barrera, in 1996 and 1997. Also noteworthy was that Jones was entering Mexico for the first time to fight, and the fight was held at Morales' home town of Tijuana. The fight was a heatedly contested 3-round affair between both men, with Jones hoping to repeat his performance against Morales' countryman, Barrera, before Morales knocked out Jones with 2 consecutive overhead right crosses in the fourth round.

In October of 1999, Morales fought Wayne McCullough of Belfast, Northern Ireland, as part of the Naseem Hamed-Cesar Soto undercard in Detroit, Michigan. McCullough is famed for having extremely high resilience to punches, having stopped the unbroken string of knockouts by Hamed, a fighter even more famous, but rather for exceedingly high punching power. Morales outpointed McCullough in a pitched battle in all 12 rounds bar one, the 11th, of which he complained of exhaustion and feeling tired. Morales noted that he wanted to move to the Featherweight division (126 pounds) from the Bantamweights (122 pounds) prior to this fight, explaining that he was unusually tall (5'8 1/2") for a Bantamweight, that he had fought at 122 pounds since 1993, and as he moved further from his teen years, he found it increasingly arduous to make the Bantamweight limit.

In February of 2000, Morales defeated Barrera, in a long awaited fight that is considered one of Boxing's classic, albeit most vicious battles. Clearly suffering the ill-effects of weight-drain, a condition of lost strength from fighting below natural weight, Morales nonetheless outlanded Barrera in the final punch counts over 12 rounds. By this point of his career, Morales was a staple of the HBO Boxing telecasts.

After a year of strain to continue at Bantamweight, Morales moved up to Featherweight. In his second fight at this weight, he fought 33 year-old former world champion Kevin Kelley, in September 2000. Kelley, who aged nearly 31 had knocked down Hamed three times in their fight at Madison Square Garden, was unable to replicate this performance against Morales. Knocked down in the fifth and seventh rounds, Kelley was finally trapped in that latter round by a flurry of five consecutive uppercuts from Morales. Supported only by the ropes, a sixth uppercut landed, and the fight was stopped. Morales retained his Featherweight title.

Morales fought again in 2000, knocking out Rodney Jones in the 1st round shortly before Christmas, but the strain of the fights against McCullough and Barrera below his rising natural weight, coupled with the overwork from the busy fighting schedule had very clearly taken their toll, and most boxing commentators noted that his performances had degraded somewhat since his move to Featherweight.

In February 2001, he fought Guty Espadas Jr., the WBC world Jr. Lightweight champion with a thirteen fight winning streak, and whose father, Guty Espadas Sr., was also a world champion boxer. Morales won a very close twelve round decision to claim his third world title.

In July of 2001 Morales fought Injin Chi, a relatively unknown South Korean fighter with an excellent fighting record in his home country. Although few dispute Morales victory on points, the fight was very hard fought, with Chi showing remarkable resilience to Morales' power, and determination to land punches. Chi subsequently became a higly ranked member of the Featherweight international community, knocking out British champion Michael Brodie early in April, 2004, to capture the vacant WBC world featherweight title.

Morales was awarded a loss on points to Barrera in July 2002, despite punching him to the canvas in the seventh round. He subsequently defeated Paulie Ayala, in November 2002, and Guty Espadas Jr., in a rematch in October 2003, by knockout in three rounds.

The latter fight is significant for two reasons; first, Morales' subsequent victory by knockout was considered to be clear proof that he was, indisputably, the superior fighter. Second, this fight was Morales' debut in the Super-Featherweight (130Ibs) division, and with the victory he became one of only two Mexican boxers to win a title at three separate divisions, the other being the acclaimed Julio Cesar Chavez.

On July 31, 2004, Morales unified his WBC Jr. Lightweight title (which he had won by beating Jesus Chavez), with the IBF one with a twelve round unanimous decision over Carlos Hernandez.

On November 27 of that year, he met arch-rival Barrera for the third time. In a close fight(scores of 114-114-,114-115,113-115), the judges awarded Morales a Loss.

On the 19th of March, 2005, Morales defeated Emmanuel Pacquaio (commonly known as "Manny" Pacquiao), who had knocked out Barrera in November 2003. The victory was a Unanimous Decision by the three presiding judges.

CURRENT RECORD

48 wins, 34 of these by knockout, and 2 losses, both of which by judicial decision. Morales has never been punched to the canvas in any of these contests.

FUTURE PLANS/PERSONAL LIFE

Morales expressed his desire to surpass Chavez' record of championship titles at 3 weight classes by campaigning at the Lightweight class of 135Ibs.

Morales is managed and promoted by Bob Arum, although he has recently opened his own promotional company to assist fellow young Mexicans into the sport. There are conflicting reports as to whether he is married, although he indeed has children, and his younger brother, Diego, is also a successful Boxer, campaigning at 118Ibs. Although no longer resident in Tijuana, Morales retains nonetheless a fierce loyalty to it, is considered a 'son' of the city and often trains there. Given his aggressiveness and success in the ring, many commentators have been surprised that this vocational combativeness belies a thoughtful, soft-spoken persona in his private life.