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By Sammy Rozenberg - The career of Erik Morales came to a close on a high note, but not as high as he wanted. David Diaz (33-1-1, 17 KOs) won a hard fought unanimous decision over Morales (48-5, 34 KOs) to retain his WBC lightweight title at the Allstate Arena in Chicago.
The fight began with a **** as Diaz was pressing the action in the first round with his power and size. Towards the end of the round, he had Morales rocked against the ropes and was trying to put him away. During the exchange, Morales landed a huge right hand to send Diaz down on his back in the closing seconds. The knockdown immediately changed the tempo of the fight.
A lot of experts predicted a shot Erik Morales would enter the ring, that Morales must have stayed home.
Morales was picking his shots, boxing and landing plenty of hard right hands that wobbled the legs of Diaz. By the fourth, there was very bad swelling under the right eye of Diaz. Morales was throwing crisp combinations while Diaz's counters mostly hits gloves in the first six rounds.
After a sense of urgency, Diaz began to press more of the action in the second half of the fight, while Morales played the role of the counter-puncher. Diaz would trap Morales against the ropes often, trying to wear him down with non-stop punching. Morales would block many of the shots, but some would get through and do damage on occasion.
Diaz began to rally in the tenth as Morales was beginning to appear exhausted. Morales came right back in the eleventh to box Diaz all over the ring as it was Diaz who looked tired. The final round saw Diaz pull out all the stops with punches to the head and body as a shaken up, tired Morales tried to hang on to the final bell. Rather than sit on what he felt was a win in the bank, Morales began to fight in the final minute. [details]
The fight began with a **** as Diaz was pressing the action in the first round with his power and size. Towards the end of the round, he had Morales rocked against the ropes and was trying to put him away. During the exchange, Morales landed a huge right hand to send Diaz down on his back in the closing seconds. The knockdown immediately changed the tempo of the fight.
A lot of experts predicted a shot Erik Morales would enter the ring, that Morales must have stayed home.
Morales was picking his shots, boxing and landing plenty of hard right hands that wobbled the legs of Diaz. By the fourth, there was very bad swelling under the right eye of Diaz. Morales was throwing crisp combinations while Diaz's counters mostly hits gloves in the first six rounds.
After a sense of urgency, Diaz began to press more of the action in the second half of the fight, while Morales played the role of the counter-puncher. Diaz would trap Morales against the ropes often, trying to wear him down with non-stop punching. Morales would block many of the shots, but some would get through and do damage on occasion.
Diaz began to rally in the tenth as Morales was beginning to appear exhausted. Morales came right back in the eleventh to box Diaz all over the ring as it was Diaz who looked tired. The final round saw Diaz pull out all the stops with punches to the head and body as a shaken up, tired Morales tried to hang on to the final bell. Rather than sit on what he felt was a win in the bank, Morales began to fight in the final minute. [details]
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