19.02.04 – By Matthew Hurley: After destroying Guty Espadas in the third round of their rematch, Super Featherweight Erik “El Terrible” Morales still found himself lurking in the shadows of his bitter rival Marco Antonio Barrera. Despite two closely contested matches with his nemesis, a win and a loss for both, Morales was never accorded the same respect that was bestowed upon Barrera. Now, with Barrera’s brutal dismantling at the hands of Manny Pacquiao, Morales has once again seemingly been left lurking in the shadows. In most pound for pound ratings Barrera exited and Pacquiao leap-froged over Erik. Morales’ search for respect continues unabated.
It seems strange that such a crowd pleasing fighter, with world class skills, has not won over the boxing media. He is in no way ignored, but neither is he as praised for his efforts as he should be. His inconsistency in some recent bouts is part of the problem. He often fights to the level of his competition which sometimes leaves him looking vulnerable. He followed his epic first bout against Barrera with tepid performances against Guty Espadas and the unheralded Injin Chi. Yet in his rematch with Barrera he boxed smartly from the outside for the first half of the fight and had seemingly done enough to win. Instead the decision went to Marco and Erik was deemed “number 2” and has been ever since.
However Erik regrouped and put on a masterful performance against highly regarded Super Bantamweight Champion Paulie Ayala and then he followed that up with a TKO in the third round over Eddie Croft which led to his rematch with Guty Espadas. Espadas had so troubled Morales in their first match that some at ringside, including HBO announcers Jim Lamprey and Larry Merchant, felt that Guty had deserved the win. On this night however Morales left no doubt. After two evenly contested rounds Espadas missed with three winging right hands and Morales jabbed back twice before unleashing a straight right hand that hit Espadas on the temple, sending him to the canvas for the full ten count. It was another impressive performance by “El Terrible” and one that has his loyal fans salivating over his future.
Now Erik will face Jesus Chavez for the Super Featherweight Championship on February 28th and then a possible showdown with IBF Champion Carlos Hernandez. Neither is an easy match up, particularly with Erik moving up in weight, but look for Morales to win both bouts in heated, pitched battles – the kind of fights he thrives on. With Barrera’s defeat, and a rubber match apparently out of the question, Erik Morales has opportunity staring him right in the face, and he knows it.
There are several fighters who could have banner years in 2004 but the feeling in this corner is that Erik Morales will explode from out of the shadows and finally win over all of the nay-sayers who have been hesitant to give this under appreciated fighter his just do. If he rises to the occasion he may well establish himself as not only the best Mexican fighter in the world but one of the very best fighters of his era.