Maidana's record improves, Morales'
all-time great status soars
Mark E. Ortega
Leave-it-in-the-ring.com
April 9, 2011
In what can be considered one of the
more impressive performances by a fighter who is long past his best,
Mexican hero Erik “El Terrible” Morales silenced all of his
critics as he made it to the finish line against Argentinian heavy
hitter Marcos Maidana, losing a hard fought twelve-round unanimous
decision victory at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada in a bout that
many will tab as a candidate for Fight of the Year.
If the first two rounds were any
indication of how the fight would play out, the public criticism of
the bout as a mismatch of a pay-per-view headliner looked to be right
on the money as Morales looked shopworn and had his right eye all the
way closed from a first round Maidana uppercut. For all but ten
seconds of the second round, Morales was getting lambasted. In those
ten seconds, a glimmer of light shined through as Morales answered a
flurry from Maidana with a nice combination of his own that actually
backed up an opponent that is naturally three weight classes bigger
than he is. It was the kind of answer that Morales circa 2000 would
have been known to come up with.
The next portion of the fight featured
more of those moments and it quickly became apparent that it was now
not only just a glimmer of hope for the 34-year old from Tijuana but
a ray of light and through eighth rounds all of a sudden ringside
observers were finding that they had Morales in the fight, many of
them with even scorecards. That alone had people buzzing considering
most pundits were fearful for Morales' health in engaging with such
an established power puncher.
As the fight wore on, the question was
whether or not Morales' legs would fail him as his chin seemed to be
holding up well under the pressure of Maidana's wide shots. Morales
fought the perfect gameplan, resting his legs on the ropes as he
turned with the punches Maidana threw while blocking many more,
rarely being hit clean by any of this shots.
In fact, if anyone was hurt it was
Maidana, who seemed buzzed a number of times, though he claimed in
the post fight press conference he was only hurt once and he was
mostly trying to play possum.
The drama in the fight was palpable as
watching Morales felt similar to watching a guy run a marathon and
crossing your fingers he makes it to the finish line.
In the last two rounds, Morales seemed
to be fading and Maidana, knowing the fight hung in question, came on
strong to win them on all three judges scorecards, which served as
the margin of victory with Maidana winning via majority decision by
scores of 116-112 twice and 114-114.
Morales was returing to the MGM for the
first time since scoring his career defining 2005 victory over Manny
Pacquiao, but felt the support of his Mexican contingency that, as
per usual, followed the living legend to Vegas to cheer on one of
their idols, probably for the last time if you asked nearly any
astute fan of the sport. Morales rose to the occasion of his first
big fight since 2007's near victory against David Diaz for the WBC
lightweight title. Many detractors of this bout pointed to the
unevenness of Morales' performances in his three fight comeback last
year, but it became clear through the fight with Maidana that he took
those fights as a way to shake off the rust and regain his timing and
that he was not taking the opposition seriously.
Despite officially being the loser on
this night, Erik Morales bolstered his resume tremendously by
fighting a guy that nobody else in the junior welterweight division
asked for. Amir Khan avoided fighting Maidana, who was his mandatory,
for almost a year and a half before finally being forced into the
ring with him.
“[Khan and Morales] are on the same
level, pretty much,” offered Maidana following the win. “Amir
Khan is a bit faster, but he runs. Erik doesn't run, he stands and
fights.”
The fact that Morales, a former 122,
126, and 130 pound world champion, went toe to toe with one of the
biggest punchers in a weight class two divisions higher than where he
last claimed gold speaks volumes to the fighting spirit of a guy who
had no financial need to return to the ring but did so instead out of
his love for the sport. It's no wonder why Morales was able to bring
over 7,000 fans to the arena despite this being classified as a heavy
mismatch going in.
In the immediate aftermath, Morales
made it clear he would like a rematch and before he could finish
saying his piece, Maidana jumped in and exclaimed, “Anytime.”
So what happens when you get two guys
in the ring with each other whose lone focus is fighting? A really
great fight, and one that a majority wouldn't mind seeing again.
Two division world champion Robert “The
Ghost” Guerrero [29-1-1, 18 KOs] finally earned his career defining
win as he fought brilliantly en route to a unanimous decision over
game but outgunned Michael Katsidis [27-4, 22 KOs] in a thrilling
lightweight bout that had two bogus sanctioning body titles on the
line. Guerrero, who won world titles at featherweight and super
featherweight, finally put together an effort that was both exciting
and impressive. Despite referee Russell Morta's best attempt to ruin
the fight [by deducting two points from Katsidis for low blows that
nearly put him on the brink of disqualification, as well as one from
Guerrero], the two traded heavy fodder for most of the contest with
Robert's technical skills shining through. Guerrero ate some of
Katsidis' best shots and was lured into a firefight early on but
looked to fare the better. Guerrero was able to get back into his
form and he hit Katsidis with nearly every one-two he threw. Katsidis
began to do tremendous body work in the eighth that seemed to affect
Guerrero, but the momentum was stifled when Mora stepped in to issue
deductions. Mora tried going against the old adage that two wrongs
don't make a right and he deducted a point from Guerrero in the ninth
as a makeup call. Official scores for the fight were 117-108,
118-107, 118-106 for Guerrero.
In an Upset of the Year candidate,
lightly regarded former fringe titleholder Nobuhiro Ishida [23-6-2, 7
KOs] demolished James Kirkland [27-1, 24 KOs] in a single round,
dropping the heavily favored undefeated three times before Joe Cortez
finally called it off at 1:52 of the first round. Ishida took
Kirkland's best shots surprisingly well and after a hesitant first
thirty seconds he landed a one-two combination that sent Kirkland
down hard. Kirkland made it to his feet and to his credit did not
deviate from his gameplan and marched forward, albeit straight into
Ishida's extended left hands. On the third knockdown, Ishida ate a
good shot from Kirkland but it wasn't enough for him to keep from
throwing his two punch combination, which resulted in Kirkland
crashing down the third and final time. Terrible news emerged from
ringside as Kirkland trainer Kenny Adams allegedly collapsed in the
dressing room following the fight.
Paulie Malignaggi kept himself in talks
for future paydays as he marched to an easy ten round unanimous
decision victory over Jose Miguel Cotto, avenging a loss against
younger brother Miguel from 2006. Cotto came out to a quick start in
the first but saw his momentum stifled the remainder of the way as
Malignaggi flicked out enough accurate straight shots to keep Cotto
from opening up.
Junior welterweight prospect Danny
“Swift” Garcia [20-0, 14 KOs] made the jump to contender as he
basically shut out former lineal lightweight champion Nate Campbell
[33-7-1, 25 KOs] over ten lopsided rounds. Campbell, who announced
retirement following a defeat last year to gatekeeper Walter Estrada,
was unable to land efficiently while Garcia placed his punches very
well for the duration. Campbell tried old school antics like clowning
and hitting after the bell but the young New Yorker stayed composed
and kept with his gameplan. Garcia looks to be ready for top ten
opposition following the impressive win.
In the non-televised opener of the
evening's action, Canadian junior middleweight prospect Mikael Zewski
[9-0, 5 KOs] had to work harder than he figured against game Clint
Coronel [4-2-2, KO], winning a six round split decision victory. The
scores were a bit peculiar, Herb Santos scored it a shutout 60-54 for
Coronel, which was overruled by Tim Cheatham's 60-54 and Ricardo
Ocasio's 59-55 for Zewski.
Rakhim Chakhkiev [10-0, 8 KOs] remained
unbeaten as he stopped journeyman Harvey Jolly [11-17-1, 6 KOs] at
2:18 in the third round of a scheduled four-round heavyweight bout.
Jolly remained in the fight longer than many anticipated as Chakhkiev
fought at a very measured pace until he forced a knockdown of him
while he was on his feet. Jolly was later dropped legitimately in the
third and referee Joe Cortez waved it off.
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