By Francisco Hernandez: The image of legend Erik Morales is imprinted forever in the minds of fans as the hot tempered warrior who never backed down from going toe to toe with his opponents. Even when Erik Morales had the boxing skills and height advantage to easily outpoint his opponents, he never got on the bicycle; instead he preferred to trade leather. To his fans, Erik Morales is the archetype of the fearless warrior.

Morales became part of boxing history when he fought Marco Antonio Barrera three times; both fighters were at their prime and practically finished each other off in that historic trilogy. They were never the same after that and soon after began to decline in their physical abilities. This is what usually happens when two elite Mexican boxers fight each other, the fight is savage, and both fighters end up destroying each other for good. Boxing history has shown this to be true. Senior boxing aficionados will remember the brutal fight between Rodolfo “Gato” Gonzalez and Rene Arredondo; that was the end of their careers. In more recent times Israel Vasquez and Rafael Marquez have paralyzed audiences with the intensity of violence in their fights, both fighters are no longer the same. This is one reason that elite Mexican boxers try not to face each other, the price is sometimes too high.

Erik Morales first gave signs of the excitement that he was to bring to boxing when he fought legend Daniel Zaragoza for the super bantamweight world championship in 1997, the fight was considered a great one. Everyone immediately recognized Morales as a future legend. At super bantamweight Erik Morales was knocking most of his opponents out. It was at this weight division that he defeated another Mexican legend Marco Antonio Barrera.

Things began changing for Erik Morales when he moved to the featherweight division. Morales still fighting as aggressive as ever but his power had diminished, he wasn’t knocking out as many of his opponents. It was at this division, featherweight, that Erik Morales would lose his first fight to Barrera.

Erik Morales then moved to the super featherweight division, his punching power diminished even more, he was hardly knocking anyone out now, despite punishing his opponents severely. He would lose in this division to Barrera in their third and last fight. The three fights had been close, some fans saw Morales winning the last two fights, but the judges decided for Barrera. What is clear is that what Morales gained in weight he lost in punching power.

After his third fight with Barrera, Morales began losing fights to lesser men like Manny Pacquiao, Zahir Raheem, and David Diaz. In his prime, he, Morales would have dumped all these lesser fighters on the canvas. These losses forced Erik Morales to intelligently take a leave from boxing.

Now Morales is back and he has challenged one of the heavy hitters of the division: Marcos Maidana. Marcos Maidana has lost only two fights, and a good argument can be made that he was robbed in both fights. Maidana cracked Kansas kid Victor Ortiz into a bloody mess. Maidana rearranged Amir Khan’s face as the Brit ran like a feathered barn animal. Morales doesn’t give a damn, he wants a showdown with the toughest man in the division, if he beats Maidana, he will again be in the middle of things, if he loses to Maidana, he has to call it quits for good. It’s only something that a fearless Mexican fighter like Erik Morales would do.

Just like the last of the Native-American warriors, who armed with a single spear would charge a whole army of American Soldiers who were outfitted with the most modern weapons, so the veteran Eagle-Jaguar warrior Erik Morales is making his last charge, armed only with his fearless heart against a powerful armed tank of a fighter named Marcos Maidana.