Diaz, Judges Deny Mexican Legend Morales

Results

MEXICAN LEGEND MORALES MEETS HIS DEMISE AS DIAZ DEFENDS TITLE

Erik Morales put up a spirited effort in his bid to make Mexican boxing history and win an unprecedented title in his fourth division when he moved up to the lightweight division to challenge WBC Champion David Diaz, but, according to the three judges, it wasn’t enough. Despite outboxing and downright outfighting the bigger, stronger Diaz for the majority of twelve competitive and exciting rounds, Morales was denied a hard earned victory and retired from boxing on a sad note albeit in traditional “El Terrible” warlike fashion.

As the three division champion made his way down an excruciatingly thin aisle way, he was literally swarmed by throngs of fans that wanted to lay claim to touching one of the greatest Mexican fighters in the history of the sport before he announced his inevitable retirement. Hometown hero Diaz received a similar welcome as he came to defend his title, although some boos were heard. By fight time, the Allstate Arena was jacked and ready to witness what they believed would be an epic bout with historic implications either way the verdict went. The fickle crowd later turned on Morales, booing him during his introduction. Undeterred by the jeers, the members of Team Terrible held up four fingers on their hands, suggesting that history would indeed be made on the night and in Morales’ favor. Surprisingly, Diaz was equally booed when introduced, the fans unable to make up their minds, torn between supporting one of their own and respecting the legend he faced. The fans finally sided with their native fighter as chants of “Diaz” broke out once the bell rang.

A natural lightweight, the physically imposing Diaz invested early with an assault to Morales’ body. Morales finally began fighting back with combinations of his own in the waning moments of the first round but paid by taking a right hook from Diaz. Moments later, the southpaw Diaz snapped Morales’ head back with a hard left hand that left the challenger stunned and on unsteady legs. The overanxious Diaz, looking to impress in the biggest fight of his career, jumped on Morales against the ropes, but Morales fought back with a right hand. As Diaz attempted to answer with a right hand of his own, Morales landed another one, this time flooring the champion. Determined to prove he was the victim of a flash knockdown, Diaz got up instantly, but Morales finished the round with a pair of straight right hands. The sea saw nature of the first round set the stage for an outstanding going away party for Morales, win or lose.

Now the crowd was behind Morales, chanting his name as the second round picked up where the first left off. Just as soon, a dueling chant in favor of Diaz sounded off when the champion pursued Morales with a combination, including a left hand around the glove that caused “El Terrible” to crash onto his behind. Referee Benjy Esteves, however, decided that he had seen a slip and ruled it as such, although Morales appeared to go down on the punch. Diaz seemed to agree with Esteves and didn’t protest the call, instead bringing the fight to Morales even more than before. Morales’ weary expression as he sat on the stool was anything but reassuring and suggested that he wouldn’t be able to keep up with the pace Diaz was setting, a similar situation to his second fight against Manny Pacquiao, but the cagey veteran was out to prove that the lightweight frame was exactly what his body had been needing.

After bumping into a camera man who got too close to the action for his own good, Morales began to unveil the best weapons in his arsenal in the third round. Utilizing an effective uppercut and sharp right hands, Morales controlled the round and beat a wild Diaz to the punch with a vicious uppercut that stunned the champion. Now it was Morales’ turn to go on the offensive as he pounded in straight right hands on a covering Diaz. Boxing behind a stiff jab, Morales rained shots on Diaz throughout the next round, catching him rushing in with a terrific counter right hand to the jaw that rattled the champion’s head. From there, Morales mixed in some of his staple straight rights to the body, leaving Diaz out of answers at the bell. Morales continued to box in round 5 until the crowd let loose some boos, at which point Morales appeased the fans by trading with Diaz a little bit more, thereby opening the door for Diaz to work his way back into contention, but Morales maintained control by driving Diaz back with more straight rights. The evidence as to who was winning the fight was on Diaz’ face as he began developing a grotesque bruise under his right eye. All three judges correctly had Morales significantly ahead at the halfway point.

During a clinch early in round 6, Morales slapped Diaz with a pair of right hands across the face as Esteves called for a break. Once separated, Morales heard it from both Esteves, who lectured him about the infraction, and Diaz, who had some prolonged complaints that he needed to get off his chest. Diaz opted to take out his frustrations by roughing up Morales against the ropes, but the Mexican legend fought back in style, the fighters only getting a breather when Esteves stopped the action to warn both about rabbit punching. Pinning Morales against the ropes with his forearm, Diaz stuffed in some right hook shots in round 7. Morales tried to continue boxing, but Diaz continued to force a rough fight on his foe, doing his best work on the inside and finally finding Morales with his powerful left hand. Diaz’ sheer size helped him to take the fight over for a moment as Morales began to go into a defensive shell and allow Diaz to beat on him against the ropes. After getting the best of Diaz in their exchanges throughout much of the next round, Morales showed signs of exhaustion, at one point holding Diaz’ arm and lacking the breath to issue a verbal complaint to Esteves after Diaz stuffed some right hooks into his face against the ropes. At the bell, Morales’ trainer and father, Jose, verbally assaulted Esteves for allowing the fight to degrade into such a physical affair, clearly worried about his rapidly tiring son.

With his right eye horridly blackened by Morales’ punches after one of the challenger’s best rounds of the fight in the ninth, Diaz knew he had to find a surge strong enough to carry him through what are universally considered the three most important rounds of every fight in order to retain his title. Those rounds turned out to be the deciding factor as rally Diaz did, catching Morales on the ropes with fast, thudding shots from both hands. The rest of round 10 was all ebb and flow as both men were hell bent on giving as good as they got. If Morales fell short anywhere in the fight, it was most evident in the last two rounds where the stronger Diaz got his best work done. After Morales drilled him with a clean straight right hand, Diaz fought back, pummeling “El Terrible” with vicious shots along the ropes. Diaz finished his attack with a thunderous left hand that would have put any lesser chin down, but Morales, long known for sporting one of the toughest beards in the sport, ate it well, although it cost him an otherwise close round 11.

Rather than box his way to the end, Morales fought the twelfth round like it really was the last of his career. Because he had no idea of knowing how the judges would vote, he fought the way he most wanted to go out: toe-to-toe. Simply outgunned by the lightweight champion, Morales paid a heavy price for that particular decision as Diaz pounded him into the ropes. Not to be outdone, Morales reminded everyone why he remains a pay-per-view worthy fighter even at this, the twilight of his career, as he slugged it out with a natural lightweight, taking worse than he dished out but never showing any sign of deterrence. Diaz punished Morales’ body against the ropes and ripped the challenger with shots from both hands upstairs but couldn’t take him out. At the final bell, Diaz paraded around the ring, raising his gloves to take the attention away from his deformed face, while Morales, whose face also bore the markings of a classic war, knew better and decided to wait for the official scores before celebrating prematurely.

He was right for doing so because, by scores of 114-113, 115-112, and 115-113, Diaz, who broke into tears following the announcement, retained his title with a unanimous decision while all Morales could do was drink from a water bottle and hold it up as if to toast with the crowd on his latest and, in all likelihood, his last war. Instead of putting a blemish on Diaz’ big moment by saying whether or not he thought he really won the fight, Morales chose to congratulate the winner that the judges had decided on and thank the fans for supporting him, a class act from a great champion. Morales remained set in his decision to retire, thinking it better to go out on his feet after a stellar battle than risk going out on his back as it appeared he would last November against Pacquiao. Diaz, for his part, admitted that the five pounds between lightweight and junior lightweight make a big difference and contributed, in large part, to being able to have his way with a legend like Morales. He also said that he hoped the win would legitimize him as a top level fighter, which it absolutely did, at least to his adoring hometown fans if no one else.

The bout was certainly competitive, which is more than a lot of experts were expecting out of the aging Morales, who some considered a shot fighter after losing four of his last five fights. On the contrary, Morales fought an excellent fight similar to his first effort against Pacquiao and convinced many, including this viewer, that he had done enough to edge a close contest. Supporting the claim that Morales won are the punch stats, which show Morales landing slightly more and with more accuracy, but the judges understandably favored Diaz’ harder punches; however, Morales could have made a few complaints about the judging had he seen the official scorecards. Only one judge, Nobuaki Uratani, scored the first round 10-8 in his favor while the other two scored it as 10-9, understandable in that Diaz dominated most of the round and, in fact, hurt Morales prior to being knocked down. Of particular concern, though, is the fact that judge Herminio Cuevas scored round 2, a very close round, to Diaz by a score of 10-8 despite not giving Morales the same treatment in round one. The controversy in a competitive fight such as this arises when considering that Morales won more clear rounds than did Diaz. The judges on this night awarded Diaz virtually every close round, which is a cause for concern given the importance of the bout and that Morales landed the cleaner, more accurate punches to the head and body throughout the fight. Though he didn’t seem too upset by the official decision, Morales is eventually going to have a hard time swallowing the fact that he was denied a piece of Mexican boxing history by the judges not withstanding the aggression of a hungry champion in Diaz.