Erik Morales vs. Danny Garcia: Why not?

By Boxing News - 12/16/2011 - Comments

Image: Erik Morales vs. Danny Garcia: Why not?By Gerardo Granados: It is official, it has been announced that the veteran lion king Erik Morales will defend his WBC light welterweight belt against the young lion but inexperienced Danny Garcia next January 28 at the Reliant Arena, Houston, Texas, U.S.A.

At a first glance I thought that Garcia was maybe tailor made for Morales because he´s inexperienced and have never faced top opposition, but I did not wanted think “Terrible” was cherry picking his opponents. What happened in his last fight was circumstantial due Lucas Matthysse injury; I have been very critical about it but it was not Morales fault at the end.

I tweeted Morales asking why would he take on another young inexperienced fighter, and his answer was direct and clear “he is high ranked, in his last bout he achieved a great victory, and why not him?” “that’s how the young fighters are now: with speed and some power” , I tweet back “undoubtedly he is the best available, but he may not have polished boxing technique”; Morales answer was “but, that is not my fault; I just do my job: I respect my rival and give fans a great fight that they can really enjoy” (translated from Spanish).

Now a days the top division contenders and organization champions avoid each other and all kind of absurd excuses are made to not to engage and give fans their money worth that they paid to watch the fight.

When Morales came back after a two years absence he faced quality opposition, not the best available because he was in a process to regain his boxing elite level but they cannot be considered as bums. Then he choose to fight Marcos Maidana, and almost every sport journalist, boxing writers and boxing fans thought that he was crazy! Some even suggested he would end badly hurt so the fight must not be allowed to happen, at the end Erik schooled Marcos but lost a controversial MD12 decision. He did not really lost because he gained credibility as a legit light welter contender.

Garcia most notables are Kendall Holt former WBO light welter champion / W2-L2* and Nate Campbell former IBF – WBO – WBA Super World lightweight champion / W2-L2-NC1*, he has the youth and strength edge, he is also hungry for fame and glory, but is he really skilled? Was he thought the fundamentals as old time fighters were? Juan Manuel Marquez has showed what counter punching skills can do to an aggressive but limited fighter more than once. Floyd Mayweather is the master of defensive style, you don’t have to be a boxing purist to notice how does him properly moves or see his great footwork. Pernell Whitaker is another example, what about Wilfred Benitez? Of course not all contenders are hall of fame material but the average boxing contender lacks on times of good boxing technique.

What is wrong with the young contenders? Are trainers responsible for the lack of boxer’s proper boxing technique? At the light welter division how many fighters have polished boxing skills & technique? Garcia, Maidana, Soto, Matthysse, McCloskey, Judah, Peterson, Alvarado, Kotelnik, Bradley, Khan or Morales?

Danny Garcia is ranked #2 by the WBC – IBF –WBO, age 23, height 5´9”, reach 69”, record W22(14)-L0-D0. He is supposed to be inexperienced but, was not Morales inexperienced when he faced hall of fame member Daniel Zaragoza? Erik was only 21 years old and had not faced top opposition, and for sure was supposed to be too inexperienced for Zaragoza but he dominated Daniel and knocked him out in 11 rounds.

Erislandy Lara is ranked #7 by the WBC, #6 by the WBA, #4 by the IBF & #7 by the WBO; he is 28 years old and as Garcia might be supposed to be inexperienced but he is not considered as an easy prey for any of the light middle organization champions, maybe if he was a light welter Morales would give him a chance to dispute the title.

It is quite rare to see organization champions doing what Morales does by taking the risk to engage against a dangerous contender. There are just too many organization champions that might never get to understand what makes boxing so great. Will boxing fans ever forget the Julio Cesar Chaves Sr. vs. Meldrick Taylor first fight or the Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier rivalry? Antonio DeMarco was way behind in the score cards but showed he was determined to win and proved to have a champion heart. Devon Alexander disappointed not only his fans when he chooses not to continue and lost not only his belt. Mister Yuri Foreman lost to Miguel Angel Cotto his WBA light middle belt but won the respect of many boxing fans.

I wonder if other organization champions will do as Morales and give a young contender the chance to compete. Do you remember when did Pipino Cuevas gave Thomas Hearns his first shot at the title. There is no shame when a champion loss his belt, the only shameful thing is to be called champion without deserving it.

So, why not Morales vs. Garcia?



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