By Dan Ambrose: Former three time world champion Erik Morales (51-7, 35 KO’s) has been added to the undercard for the Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Victor Ortiz pay-per-view fight on September 17th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Morales, 34, will be facing little known British lightweight Anthony Crolla (21-2, 9 KO’s) in a fight to beef up the card.
It doesn’t matter that the vast majority of casual boxing fans in the United States will have no clue who Crolla is, because Morales’ name will enough to lure a lot of fans to order the card. However, it might not be a bad fight because Morales isn’t the same fighter he once was and he struggles against pretty much everyone they put him in with nowadays. Morales lost his last fight to the painfully slow Marcos Maidana in April.
Morales fought gamely, but failed to throw enough punches most of the rounds and ran out gas in the last three rounds of a 12 round decision majority decision loss. Morales could have faced WBA light welterweight champion on July 23, but Morales opted not to take the fight. By choosing the unknown Crolla instead of Khan, Morales is missing out on a bigger payday and cover should he lose.
Boxing fans would understand it if Morales were to get beaten by Khan, because he’s well known and is a champion but if Morales loses to Crolla, a domestic level fighter, it’s going to be bad for Morales. It’s not like Morales has been looking good since making his comeback in 2010. He looked awful in wins over Jose Alfaro, Willie Limond and Francisco Lorenzo. I had Morales losing to both Alfaro and Lorenzo, and those are just a little better than Crolla in my view. I’m expecting Morales to struggle look bad and maybe win another controversial decision like the ones he won against Lorenzo and Alfaro.
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