By Jose Antonio Soriano

Mexico's Erik "El Terrible" Morales is training at a hard pace at the Colonia Centro Gym, because he expects a war with former world champion Jorge "La Hyena" Barrios on September 17 in Las Vegas. Morales is waiting for a final ruling from the WBC. He made a personal request to the organization to strip Timothy Bradley of the 140-pound title, and to sanction his fight with Barrios for the vacant strap. The WBC is considering the removal of Bradley as their champion at 140 because of his inactivity since winning the crown from Devon Alexander in January.

Morales expects a final decision from the WBC in the next few days, but he expects Bradley to be stripped.

"We are waiting for the final decision to be issued by the WBC. Apparently it will be in a week, but I'm likely going to fight for the world title. It will be a great month to win a title. Barrios is an experienced fighter and it's going to be an interesting fight. He is a strong fighter, not too fast and always throwing punches. I think we can still do a lot of things in this division. I am very adaptive, but fine tuning a few things will make me even better," Morales said.

Tags: Erik Morales , Jorge Barrios , Morales vs Barrios , Morales-Barrios