By John Hively

Photo © Chris Cozzone/FightWireImages.com

Erik “El Terrible” Morales is finished and this was apparent even before he entered the ring to face Manny Pacquiao on November 18, 2006. His skills had been slipping slightly before his first battle with Manny nearly two years ago. Since then his abilities have eroded at an exponential rate.

The rapid decline of Morales should not diminish in any way from the fact that every time we watched this amazing fighter we were witnessing one of the greatest boxers of this and any other generation; and we should also recognize that he achieved greatness without any of the controversies over steroids that have plagued several of his contemporaries whose abilities instantly fizzled once the BALCO scandal broke a few years ago. There was never a hint of scandal in any of his fights.

When Morales defeated Pacquiao nearly two years ago, it was really his last stand as a great pugilist. He was having problems making the 130 pound limit back then, and so afterwards, he moved up a division to lightweight. He lost a lop-sided decision to Zahir Raheem, and this showed that weight making was not as big of a problem as thought; eroding reflexes and skills, and perhaps desire were the real culprits in the decline of the Great Morales.

Manny stopped Erik in their second fight, busting him up badly in the process. The battle became increasingly one-sided in favor of Pacquiao as the rounds passed by. Morales blamed the process of slimming down to 130 pounds for this result. Had he faced a lesser opponent than Manny in their second fight, El Terrible might have triumphed, but it would not have detracted in any way from the fact that he had not

been an elite boxer since the first Pacquiao scrap.

Pacquiao’s smashing third round knockout of Erik in their final clash demonstrated once and for all that Morales is finished as a top flight fighter. Their series represented one great fighter on the rise and one on the downward side. Manny is now the best fighter in the 130 pound weight class. Like Erik, Pacquiao will one day discover that his reflexes and desire are not quite the same as they once were, and if he doesn’t retire in time, some young and hungry fighter is going to knock him off and send him into retirement, and that won’t detract one iota from his greatness anymore than the recent losses of Morales can be used to diminish his standing as an all-time great.

        

The featherweight and junior lightweight divisions were blessed by having three all time greats in Morales, Pacquiao and Marco Antonio Barrera fighting at or near their primes just a few years ago. Boxing was also blessed because all three were willing to take on the best boxers anywhere near their weight, and that meant that they fought each other in bitterly contested wars.

El Terrible began his professional career in 1993. Along the way he won the WBC Super bantamweight title and defended it nine times, including a bitterly contested and hotly disputed win over arch rival Barrera. In 2001, he won the WBC featherweight title, defended it once, and then lost it in one of those close and highly disputed decisions

against Barrera in June 2002. This was the first time that he had been forced to swallow the caustic taste of defeat. The loss ended a streak of forty-three consecutive victories.

Five months later Morales won the vacant WBC featherweight title by trouncing Paulie Ayala. He defended the title twice and then stepped up in weight and took the WBC and IBF super featherweight titles from Jesus Chavez, whose only previous loss was a competitive battle against Floyd Mayweather. Chavez was not nearly as competitive against Morales as he had been against Floyd. El Terrible lost the title on a disputed majority decision against Barrera in their third contest. Then came his win against the mighty Pacquiao in 2005, leaving him with an outstanding record of forty seven wins, two bitterly disputed losses to Barrera, thirty-four knockouts, and victories over two all time greats. What followed, however, was his rapid descent into fistic mortality with three consecutive losses, two by kayo.

Erik Morales combined speed, power, boxing skill, ring savvy, and an iron jaw. In his prime he would have been stern opposition for any of the great champions of the past at junior lightweight, featherweight or super bantamweight.

Membership in the Hall of Fame is not far away for El Terrible. He was an exciting performer, an all time great. Erik should be proud that he served himself and boxing well.

One can hope that Morales recognizes that he has already been to the top of the mountain, leaving him no place to go but tumbling down, and now that he has done that, it appears he lacks the tools to scale that peak one more time. Now is the time for him to retire rather than continue fighting with diminishing skills.