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By Doug Fischer
In his prime, and even as his hall-of-fame career began to wind down, there was no better elite-level warrior than Erik Morales. Few fighters of the past 20 years were as consistently entertaining against the sport’s best as the Tijuana native, who produced fight-of-the-year ring wars and instant-classic trilogies with fellow first-ballot hall of famers Marco Antonio Barrera and Manny Pacquiao.
Following a 2˝-year “retirement,” Morales won a hard-fought 12-round decision over former lightweight beltholder Jose Alfaro in a welterweight bout this past March. Sadly, the speed, power and reflexes that aided “El Terrible” in winning his first 41 professional bouts -- a nine-year win streak that included victories over seven titleholders, including Barrera and Junior Jones -- were gone.
However, the fierce pride and warrior spirit -- intangibles that made the Mexican star special -- remain, as evidenced by a recent interview Morales (49-6, 34 knockouts) gave RingTV.com after a Los Angeles press conference announcing his second comeback fight against Scotland’s Willie Limond (33-2, 8 KOs) in a pay-per-view-televised bout Saturday from Mexico City.
Morales, 34, agreed to take part in RingTV.com’s Best I’ve faced series, the periodic feature that asks the most-accomplished fighters of our generation to list the best they've fought in 10 important categories. The former three-division titleholder had a difficult time with the first category, Best Fighter.
The obvious choice is either Barrera or Pacquiao, two arguably great fighters who Morales beat in the first bouts of their trilogies but lost the following two fights to each. However, the salty veteran refused to bestow that honor on either man. “El Terrible” takes his rivalries seriously.
Best boxer: Junior Jones -- This is a tough question. I faced a lot of good boxers in my career, but I think Jones might be the best. He had very good technique. He threw straight, accurate punches. He could punch too. He hurt me in our fight.
Best puncher: Jones -- I really felt it when he connected. I remember freezing for a second in the second round of our fight when he caught me with a right hand.
Quickest hands: Pacquiao -- Pacquiao had the quickest hands. Jones was faster with single punches from the outside, but Pacquiao could deliver four or five quick, short punches in combination in the blink of an eye. Both guys had the kind of speed that you couldn’t see.
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In his prime, and even as his hall-of-fame career began to wind down, there was no better elite-level warrior than Erik Morales. Few fighters of the past 20 years were as consistently entertaining against the sport’s best as the Tijuana native, who produced fight-of-the-year ring wars and instant-classic trilogies with fellow first-ballot hall of famers Marco Antonio Barrera and Manny Pacquiao.
Following a 2˝-year “retirement,” Morales won a hard-fought 12-round decision over former lightweight beltholder Jose Alfaro in a welterweight bout this past March. Sadly, the speed, power and reflexes that aided “El Terrible” in winning his first 41 professional bouts -- a nine-year win streak that included victories over seven titleholders, including Barrera and Junior Jones -- were gone.
However, the fierce pride and warrior spirit -- intangibles that made the Mexican star special -- remain, as evidenced by a recent interview Morales (49-6, 34 knockouts) gave RingTV.com after a Los Angeles press conference announcing his second comeback fight against Scotland’s Willie Limond (33-2, 8 KOs) in a pay-per-view-televised bout Saturday from Mexico City.
Morales, 34, agreed to take part in RingTV.com’s Best I’ve faced series, the periodic feature that asks the most-accomplished fighters of our generation to list the best they've fought in 10 important categories. The former three-division titleholder had a difficult time with the first category, Best Fighter.
The obvious choice is either Barrera or Pacquiao, two arguably great fighters who Morales beat in the first bouts of their trilogies but lost the following two fights to each. However, the salty veteran refused to bestow that honor on either man. “El Terrible” takes his rivalries seriously.
Best boxer: Junior Jones -- This is a tough question. I faced a lot of good boxers in my career, but I think Jones might be the best. He had very good technique. He threw straight, accurate punches. He could punch too. He hurt me in our fight.
Best puncher: Jones -- I really felt it when he connected. I remember freezing for a second in the second round of our fight when he caught me with a right hand.
Quickest hands: Pacquiao -- Pacquiao had the quickest hands. Jones was faster with single punches from the outside, but Pacquiao could deliver four or five quick, short punches in combination in the blink of an eye. Both guys had the kind of speed that you couldn’t see.
Rest of the article here
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