By Jim Dower: Former three time world champion Erik Morales (51-6, 35 KO’s) looked like a mere shell of himself last Saturday night in beating 39-year-old Francisco Lorenzo (35-9, 16 KO’s) by a close 12 round unanimous decision at the Caliente Racetrack, in Tijuana, Mexico. Morales took a lot of punishment from this older fighter and ended up barely beating him.
If this was just one-time thing, then you could maybe excuse Morales for having an off night. However, he’s looked terrible in his last two fights against Jose Alfaro and Willie Limond. Morales appears to have lost the ability to fire back immediately after getting nailed, and he’s getting way too much. He defeated Lorenzo by the scores of 116-111, 114-113 and 116-112, but he looked awful throughout.
Morales is supposed to be fighting Juan Manuel Marquez in early 2011. I don’t see any point in that fight taking place right now with the way that Morales is fighting. He just doesn’t stand a chance. If the fight is going to be a non-pay-per-view bout, then I say go ahead and do it. I just hope Morales’ corner stops the fight early to save him from taking needless punishment because he just doesn’t stand much of a chance.
Perhaps in his prime he would have been a great opponent for Marquez, but not now. I’d much prefer to see Morales either retire or continue to fight 2nd tier opponents in hopes that he might be able to somehow find his old form.
He’s still carrying around flab around his midsection and needs to take that weight of and get down to lightweight. At light welterweight, Morales looks flabby, slow and weak. He doesn’t belong at this weight, and if Marquez doesn’t destroy him, someone else will.
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