Erik Morales Could Have Maidana, Soto-Matthysse, More

By Rick Reeno

In the span of a few days, former four division world champion Erik Morales (52-8, 36KOs) has witnessed three possible opportunities fall through. Morales was hoping to face countryman Juan Manuel Marquez, British star Amir Khan, or lure WBC 140-pound champion Danny Garcia into a rematch.

Marquez is not interested in facing Morales, while Khan and Garcia finalized a deal on Tuesday to face each other on July 14th.

However, Morales has not been left out in the cold, says Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer.

There are several possible avenues - if Morales elects to explore them. Two possibilities, says Schaefer, is a rematch with Marcos Maidana (31-3, 28KOs) or the winner of the upcoming fight between Humberto Soto (58-7, 34KOs) and Lucas Matthysse (30-2, 28KOs), which takes place on June 23rd as the co-feature to Victor Ortiz-Josesito Lopez at Staples Center in Los Angeles.

In April of 2011, Morales lost a very exciting twelve round majority decision to Maidana. Morales was actually scheduled to face Matthysse on the Floyd Mayweather-Victor Ortiz undercard last September, but the Argentine boxer withdrew with an illness and was later replaced by Pablo Cesar Cano. On the other hand, Soto has been chasing a fight with Morales for some time.

"He has two fights left with us, two fights here in the United States. He can do fights in Mexico as well. He may do a fight in Mexico. We have other opportunities. If he wants to do a rematch with Marcos Maidana, that's a possibility. Fighting the winner of Soto-Matthysee is another opportunity. There are a lot of different opportunities," Schaefer told BoxingScene.com.