By Miguel Rivera and Alfredo Jaime Gomez

According to José "Olivaritos" Morales, the father and trainer of former three-division world champion Erik Morales, the possibility strongly exists that Jorge "Hyena" Barrios will be his son's next opponent on September 17, which is the undercard to the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Victor Ortiz pay-per-view at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

"Jorge Barrios is a fighter that has numbers very similar to Erik Morales. Both have been world champions, with the only difference being is that my son has been champion in three different divisions and Barrios has only been a WBO champion at 130 pounds. But that means nothing. Barrios has faced some very good fighters," he said.

As you may recall, BoxingScene.com previously reported that Anthony Crolla would be the opponent for Morales, but now Barrios is being mentioned as the favorite to land the fight.

In a report published last week, BoxingScene disclosed that a recent court ruling in Argentina has cleared Barrios to fight in Las Vegas during the month of September. He was scheduled to face Morales last December, but later withdrew due to legal issues that prevented him from leaving Argentina.

"Due to his problems with the courts of his country, he couldn't come to Tijuana [in December]. But it seems this time he can leave Argentina to fight," Jose Morales said.