By Thomas Gerbasi
I insisted this day would never come, but at 42, I’ve become THAT guy. You know the one, a little gray on the temples who looks around, sighs, and says, ‘well, things were better back when I was younger.’
As the months have piled up, I’ve noticed it more and more, and while things were really good back in my formative boxing years during the 80’s, even the past five to ten years look better than they do now.
Never was this more evident than while watching Chad Dawson’s title fight against Jean Pascal. Round after round I waited for Dawson to do something that would mark him as a fighter who wanted to fight. Oh, he would shift into gear occasionally, making it painfully obvious that if he stepped on the gas for more than 30 second spurts, he would have probably gotten Pascal out of there and delivered an eye opening performance that would have – hold your hats for this one – actually made you want to see him again. I know, it’s a bizarre concept, but it’s one that made the greats who they are.
Which brings us to this week’s topic of discussion – the second comeback fight of Mr. Erik Morales on September 11th against Willie Limond. It’s not an epic war like the ones he waged against Marco Antonio Barrera, a fight that will halt the sports world for 45 minutes like his ones against Manny Pacquiao, or just a good old fashioned scrap like his bout with In-Jin Chi. No, the fight with Limond is a barometer of where the 33-year old Morales is in his second bout following a nearly three year layoff. And that’s fine, because even though the fight world won’t stop that night in Mexico City, those who do show up at the Monumental Plaza de Toros or tune in on Pay-Per-View will get what they paid for – a fight.
How can I be so sure? Well, because guys from a certain generation proved themselves over time as being fighters. Not businessmen, not professional athletes, but fighters. Now of course you’re thinking, well, the sport isn’t all about brawlers like Morales and the late Arturo Gatti. Very true. But I would also lump guys like Pernell Whitaker and a young Floyd Mayweather Jr. into that ‘fighter’ category as well. Why? Well, if you watch them, notice how they would stand in the pocket, make you miss, then make you pay before using movement to reset their own attacks and take you out of your game. That’s boxing, and for a true fan, it’s just as fun to watch as Gatti vs Micky Ward.
So being a boxer doesn’t mean that I don’t want to watch you fight, as long as you come into the ring in shape and are ready to engage, compete, and try to win for 8, 10, or 12 rounds. I don’t want to see Chris Arreola huffing and puffing for 12 rounds and then he’s deemed as one of the best heavyweights this country has to offer. I don’t want to see the Klitschko brothers play patty-cake with opponents they could blast out in a round or two if they wanted to, and I certainly don’t want to see the brotherhood of the Mexican warrior represented by guys who don’t want to fight (Alfredo Angulo) and guys who shouldn’t be allowed to (Antonio Margarito).
It’s no wonder then, that the biggest fight of the next few weeks featuring a boxer is taking place at UFC 118 (with James Toney fighting Randy Couture), and that future Hall of Famers like Morales and Barrera have dusted off their mouthpieces and stepped back into the fray. Because people remember what they did in their primes, and even if we only get a glimpse of that former greatness, it’s more than what we’re getting from fighters ten years younger.
“If you think about it, since September 1997, when he beat Daniel Zaragoza and got the title, just think of the guys he fought over the next ten years – it’s like a walking Hall of Fame,” said Morales’ translator (and former NFL kicker) Benny Ricardo. “He fought In-Jin Chi, Paulie Ayala, Jesus Chavez, Marco Antonio Barrera, and he’s the last man to beat Manny Pacquiao. Not even politicians can beat Manny Pacquiao now.”
Morales, in New Jersey earlier this week at Red Bull Arena to promote the Limond bout, put the reason for his return even more succinctly.
“I was tired of not doing anything,” he said. “I knew I was gonna come back. But it was going to be on my own terms when I was good and ready.”
Loser of five out of six fights from 2004-2007, with the lone win coming in 2005 over Manny Pacquiao, it was clear to everyone that when he walked away from the game after his August 2007 loss to David Diaz, it was more than the right time. Sure, three of those losses came to Pacquiao (twice) and Barrera, but Morales’ reflexes had slowed, his defense was getting more and more porous, and he just didn’t have the thudding accuracy with his punches that had become his trademark. In other words, like all great fighters, time and the wars caught up to him.
Today, he chalks those poor late performances to struggles with his weight, along with the need to step away from a game that had been a part of his life professionally since 1993.
“I just needed a little time off to get away from it,” said Morales, a world champion at 122, 126, and 130 pounds. “But (when I was off) the biggest thing I missed was being out of it. And it was in my family where I found the answers. I had that motivation to go ahead and my family motivated me, and that’s what brought me back. I feel like I still have it.”
He came back in March as a welterweight, decisioning Jose Alfaro over 12 rounds for the WBC international title. And while he was chubby and far from championship form, he did show glimpses of what made him special as he pounded out the victory.
“It was very, very smooth, and I’m pleased,” said Morales of that first comeback bout. “I was able to do all the things that I wanted to do, so it was a very good start.”
For the light-hitting veteran Limond (33-2, 8 KOs), who may be best remembered for dropping Amir Khan in 2007 before getting stopped in the eighth round, he will trim down to 140 pounds, with the eventual goal likely a return to 135 pounds and the quest for a fourth world title.
“Absolutely, I can get down to lightweight,” said the Tijuana native, whose dance card at 135 could include all-Mexico battles with Juan Manuel Marquez and Barrera. Not so fast though, as Morales said, “No, not necessarily,” when asked if his countrymen were on his radar for future fights.
And when queried again about a fourth bout with his old rival Barrera – a likely Pay-Per-View bonanza should it take place – Morales was even more emphatic in his response.
“No, I moved on.”
Maybe that’s the secret. Maybe while people like me yearn for the old days, fighters like Morales are looking to the future. As he puts it, “There’s still a lot of things I want to accomplish and I’m not even close to doing them all yet.”
But whether he’s revisiting past glories against Barrera or making new memories against other top fighters he hasn’t seen in the ring before, there’s little question that win or lose, young or old, Erik Morales will be coming to fight and giving people what they paid for. And even now, in 2010, years removed from his prime, the people still love ‘El Terrible.’
“It’s exceeded all our expectations, to be honest with you,” said Ricardo of the response to this week’s media tour in Los Angeles and New Jersey. “In LA, it was a packed house at the El Paseo Inn on Olvera Street. “Old friends, new friends, the works. And it was the same thing here at the Red Bull Arena. Packed house and we could have been there all afternoon. The guy has a helluva mystique because you know what the guy comes to do – he’s going to give you the best of himself.”
And even half of Erik Morales is more than we’re getting from a hundred percent of some of today’s fighters.
