BOXING: MORALES AT A CROSSROADS.

Byline: ROBERT MORALES Boxing

Erik Morales has been in a lot of ring wars. And at 29, he is getting somewhat old for a man fighting in the lower weights.

After being stopped by Manny Pacquiao in the 10th round of a thriller Saturday at Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Morales was taken to Valley Hospital for precautionary measures.

The word Sunday was that he had a CAT scan that proved normal, and except for some bruises and a few stitches over his right eye, Morales was apparently no worse for the wear.

But all things considered, one must wonder if Morales' time is up. He already is arguably one of the greatest Mexican fighters in history. He has made way more money than most small fighters will ever see, so why not retire? No one would blame him. He is 1-3 in his past four fights.

``It is really up to him,'' Morales' promoter, Bob Arum, said Sunday. ``We are going to discuss the situation and we will come to a conclusion. I felt bad the fact that he lost last night, but right now, I'm into football and I'm not even thinking about it.

``There is no hurry. No decisions have to be made in a week or two. Everybody should reflect and then we'll meet and make a decision.''

There was a rematch clause in Saturday's contract for a third fight between Morales and Pacquiao, who have a win apiece. But Morales said he can no longer make the super featherweight limit of 130 pounds. The sides could agree to fight at a catch-weight of, say, 132 pounds.

Morales made a guaranteed $2.75 million Saturday and will make more from pay-per-view upside. Pacquiao made $2 million plus upside.

The fight will be replayed by HBO on Saturday at 6:45 p.m. It will be shown along with the Arturo Gatti-Thomas Damgaard welterweight fight from Atlantic City.

--Was it the gloves? Pacquiao, who is trained by Freddie Roach out of the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood, said before the fight that the Reyes gloves he used Saturday would make a difference, and perhaps they did.

Pacquiao, in his decision loss last March to Morales, never came close to hurting Morales then the way he did Saturday. Both fighters used Winning gloves for the first fight, much to the chagrin of Pacquiao, who preferred the puncher's gloves that are supposedly Reyes.

But contractual language prohibited him from using Reyes gloves in the first fight.

``The gloves made a big difference,'' Pacquiao said in Saturday's post-fight interview. ``I really liked my gloves.''

--Mayweather-Judah on: Zab Judah, despite his shocking decision loss to Carlos Baldomir on Jan. 7, will still get his chance at Floyd Mayweather Jr. unless he is foolhardy enough to hold out for the money he would have made had he beaten the mediocre Baldomir.

Arum, who promotes Mayweather, said he has signed Mayweather for the fight, which will take place April 8 at Thomas & Mack Center.

Arum on Sunday said that, although the fight is a tougher sell, some people will be able to look past Judah's loss to Baldomir. They will understand that Judah was simply looking past a fighter he should destroy to a giant fight with Mayweather.

Judah's International Boxing Federation welterweight belt will be on the line. Judah was World Boxing Association, World Boxing Council and IBF champ when he lost to Baldomir.

However, Baldomir refused to pay more than one sanctioning fee, so he won only the WBC belt. The WBA and IBF belts both should have been declared vacant with Judah's loss, but only the WBA followed that route. In other words, Judah retained his IBF belt even in defeat.

What a disgrace that is.

--Vargas-Mosley next month: Danny Smith, who trains Oxnard's Fernando Vargas, said last week he likes what he sees from Vargas as he prepares to take on ``Sugar'' Shane Mosley on Feb. 25 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.

Vargas, 28, is 26-2 with 22 knockouts. The former two-time junior middleweight champion has battled back problems that caused him to take off 15 months from December 2003 to March 2005.

As for Mosley, like Vargas, he is in need of a convincing victory. He is 3-4 with one no contest in his past eight fights. Mosley, who has won titles in the lightweight, welterweight and junior middleweight divisions, has defeated David Estrada and Jose Luis Cruz via decision in his past two fights.

Mosley, 34, of Pomona, is 41-4 with 35 knockouts. He and Vargas will fight 12 rounds in a WBA junior middleweight title eliminator. Vargas is ranked No. 2 by the WBA, Mosley is No. 5.

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Photo:

Erik Morales, who lost to Manny Pacquiao on Saturday, is 1-3 in his past four fights.

Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press

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