By William Mackay: After capturing the WBC welterweight title against inexperienced fringe contender Pablo Cesar Cano last month, Erik Morales (52-7, 36 KO’s) will continue with that trend of facing soft opposition when he fights Anthony Crolla (22-2, 9 KO’s) on December 10th in Tijuana, Mexico.

Morales has opted to turn down fights against Amir Khan and Marcos Maidana, among others, to face the little known 24-year-old Crolla, who isn’t a light welterweight. Crolla fights in the lightweight division and isn’t ranked in the top 15. His claim to fame, if you want to call it that, is winning the vacant British lightweight title earlier this year with a messy 9th round TKO over fellow Brit John Watson in February. Crolla made his U.S debut on Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Victor Ortiz undercard, struggling badly to beat Juan Montiel (5-5-3, 2 KO’s) by an 8 round split decision.

It’s sad that Morales isn’t interested in taking on well known quality opposition after the way he won the WBC title. You would think that Morales would want to make up for the awful performance against a Cano. But it looks like Morales wants to take the safe route to ensure he holds onto his title.

The word is after Morales defends his title against Crolla, Morales wants to move down to the lightweight division and fight the winner of the Antonio DeMarco vs. Jorge Linares. That fight will be for the vacant WBC lightweight title. Morales’ goal is go capture a 5th world title. He won his 4th world title with his victory over the young and some say undeserving Cano. It looks like Morales is now into collecting paper titles like some fighters are now doing to pad their legacy. It doesn’t mean much, however, unless Morales faces the best guys at lightweight and light welterweight, and he’s not doing that. He fought Marcos Maidana last April but lost.