By Joshua “Travz” Travilla: Great determination to win was best referred to David Diaz performance against El “Terrible” Erik Morales on Saturday night, as he gritted it out and outworked the former boxing champion Morales over the course of the 12-round bout. Many had opposed and didn’t believe that Diaz, described as a Boxer, could topple the odds and beat the harder punching Morales.
This time, Diaz proved them wrong. His combativeness really gave him the edge to get the nod of the three respected judges from Mexico, Illinois and Japan, and it was truly an epic-type fight of the modern day history of Boxing.
On the other hand, no doubt that Morales gave Diaz a fight of his life, by giving him hell-like combinations that contributed to a knock out during the first round of the fight. Will Erik needs to retire? These are one of the common questions all boxing enthusiasts around the world are curious about at this moment. Whatever the case, Erik will have to re-invent himself if he wants to continue boxing, because with five losses in his last six fights, somethings not working right. If not, he may suffer the same exact scenario, although perhaps worse, another knockout loss. What carries Erik during that fight was his experience and a heart of a truly Mexican Gladiator. However, his previous slugging styles are clearly no longer matching his diminished reflexes and stamina.
When Barrera was defeated by junior Jones (twice), a guy who was too big for him, Barrera re-invented himself and make himself an icon in the ring after that. Morales will be a great loss if he will hang up his gloves, and legions of his boxing fans will miss him worldwide.
If he was just consistent in following his fight plan by trying to keep Diaz on the outside, and not allow the him to come in, I think Erik might have won the fight. However, he was too intent on trying to slug with Diaz, while forgetting that his stamina hasn’t been the same since beating Pacquiao in 2005.
It’s clear why Diaz won, mainly because he was fearless enough to take punches and not shy to unleash counter punches and solid body shots to Morales, the same reason why Pacquiao won during his second encounter with Morales. The judges had it 115-113, 115-112 and 114-113.