MORALES TO TAKE ON ANOTHER TOUGH FOE.Byline: ROBERT MORALES Boxing Erik Morales Erik Isaac Morales Elvira (born September 1, 1976 in Tijuana, Mexico) is a retired Mexican professional boxer. He is a former world champion at WBC / WBO Super Bantamweight (122 lb), WBC Featherweight (126 lb), WBC Super Featherweight, WBC International Super Featherweight (130 is the epitome of the old-school prize fighter prize fighter n → boxeador m profesional , the type that is not shy about fighting one mean hombre after another. It was just Nov. 27 when Morales engaged Marco Antonio Barrera Marco Antonio Barrera Tapia (born January 17, 1974 in Mexico City) is a Mexican professional boxer. He is a former world champion at WBO Super Bantamweight (122 lb), IBO / WBC Featherweight (126 lb), WBC Super Featherweight (130 lb) and IBF Junior Lightweight (130 lb) divisions. over 12 grueling rounds in a fight won narrowly by Barrera, a fight that probably will be selected fight of the year by most boxing publications. Will he now take some time off? Or perhaps fight a lesser opponent, so he can gather himself? No way. Morales, of Tijuana, was in Beverly Hills Beverly Hills, city (1990 pop. 31,971), Los Angeles co., S Calif., completely surrounded by the city of Los Angeles; inc. 1914. The largely residential city is home to many motion-picture and television personalities. on Wednesday. He and his promoter, Bob Arum, were there for a news conference to announce that Morales has decided to go from the frying pan to the fire. He will take on Manny Pacquiao on March 19 at MGM MGM in full Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc. U.S. corporation and film studio. It was formed when the film distributor Marcus Loew, who bought Metro Pictures in 1920, merged it with the Goldwyn production company in 1924 and with Louis B. Mayer Pictures in 1925. Grand in Las Vegas in a 12-round super featherweight fight televised on pay-per-view. It is being billed as a world-championship fight by promoters, but there are no titles on the line. Morales lost his World Boxing Council The World Boxing Council was initially created by 11 countries: the United States, Argentina, United Kingdom, France, Mexico, Philippines, Panama, Chile, Peru, Venezuela, and Brazil plus Puerto Rico, met in Mexico City on February 14, 1963, upon invitation of the then President of super featherweight title to Barrera, to whom he has lost two of three epic fights. Pacquiao will be making his first appearance in the 130-pound division. He is the former International Boxing Federation “IBF” redirects here. For other uses, see IBF (disambiguation). The International Boxing Federation, or IBF, is one of three major organizations recognized by IBHOF which sanction world championship boxing bouts, alongside the WBA, WBC. super bantamweight (122 pounds) champion. He also owns a vicious 11th-round technical knockout over Barrera in November 2003, in San Antonio. That was billed as the ``people's'' featherweight championship. ``My thinking is that that is the kind of fighter Erik Morales is: Morales is a warrior,'' said Arum arum, common name for the Araceae, a plant family mainly composed of species of herbaceous terrestrial and epiphytic plants found in moist to wet habitats of the tropics and subtropics; some are native to temperate zones. , regarding the decision to fight Pacquiao. ``He only wants to do big fights. He doesn't want to do lesser fights. ``He feels he let a lot of people down in the Barrera fight. And he wanted the biggest fight out there, and clearly the biggest fight out there for him was Pacquiao.'' Many ringside ring·side n. 1. The area or seats immediately outside an arena or ring, as at a prizefight. 2. A place providing a close view of a spectacle. experts believed Morales deserved no worse than a draw for his rubber-match fight with Barrera. A common score among veteran boxing writers was 114-114. Morales was very good, but he wasn't great. He admitted that afterward, saying he didn't feel like he was heavily into the fight into the middle rounds. That was a motivating factor in signing to fight Pacquiao. Morales knows he could have done more against Barrera, and now he wants to try and recoup that by getting after another monster. ``I have another opportunity to show that, in boxing, you need to be explosive,'' Morales said. ``Boxing needs explosive fights. Don't be surprised if this is one of my best performances. ``I gave the public three great fights last year. Even though I'm disappointed that I didn't close it out (with a victory), beginning the year by fighting a great warrior like Pacquiao is exciting.'' Morales, 28, is 47-2 with 34 knockouts. He has won championships in the super bantamweight, featherweight and super featherweight divisions. Pacquiao, 26, of the Philippines, is 39-2-2 with 30 knockouts. He stopped Fahsan Thawatchai in the fourth round Dec. 11 in the Philippines, his most recent bout. Before that, last May in Las Vegas, Pacquiao knocked down Juan Manuel Marquez three times in the first round. Marquez was gallant in coming back to earn a draw and retain his WBC WBC white blood cell; see leukocyte. WBC abbr. white blood cell WBC, n stands for white blood cell. and World Boxing Association World Boxing Association (WBA) is a boxing organization that sanctions official matches, and awards the WBA world championship title, at the professional level. It was previously known as the National Boxing Association, it is one of three major organizations recognized by IBHOF featherweight belts. ``I am ready to fight Erik Morales,'' Pacquiao said. ``I will give him a good fight. Don't miss this fight because it will be one of the most memorable fights in boxing history.'' --Could have been: A rematch between Mexico City's Marquez and Pacquiao was in the works before Arum and Pacquiao's promoter, Murad Muhammad, switched gears. Arum, also promotes Marquez, was asked what happened. ``Remember, Pacquiao-Marquez was going to be an HBO Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBO) A form of oxygen therapy in which the patient breathes oxygen in a pressurized chamber. Mentioned in: Ozone Therapy fight, and their budget's limited,'' Arum said. ``And while we were trying to see if we could make that fight with a limited HBO budget and were having difficulty, it occurred to us that the pay-per-view fight out there was Morales and Pacquiao. ``So we went the other way and made the pay-per-view fight.'' Arum said although Marquez is a world champion and a very talented fighter, he is not a big enough draw to be a main event on pay-per-view. He and Pacquiao both were offered $750,000 to fight on HBO, but Arum said Marquez wanted more. ``On pay-per-view, you can offer a lot more money, so we decided to make it pay-per-view,'' Arum said. ``Pacquiao-Marquez was not going to be big enough yet for a pay-per-view fight. Marquez is a very good fighter, but he is not a pay-per-view draw. The two Mexicans who are pay-per-view draws are Morales and Barrera.'' Arum said he could not yet divulge details of the Morales-Pacquiao contract, but he said Pacquiao was going to be paid more than $1 million and that Morales was going to be ``very well paid.'' Morales and Barrera each made $2.25 million for their third fight. --Pac Man favored: Pacquiao has opened as a 6-5 betting favorite at the MGM Mirage Race & Sports Book in Las Vegas. CAPTION(S): photo, box Photo: Erik Morales, left, wants to offset a subpar sub·par adj. 1. Not measuring up to traditional standards of performance, value, or production. 2. Below par in a hole, round, or game of golf. showing against Marco Antonio Barrera, right, by fighting Manny Pacquiao. Al Bello/Getty Images Box: FIGHT SCHEDULE |
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