By William Mackay: Erik Morales, 35, faces Lucas Matthysse for the vacant WBC light welterweight title on September 17th in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Morales getting this chance to fight for the vacant belt is kind of odd given that Morales was beaten in his last fight and hasn’t been fighting top level guys during his comeback until losing to Marcos Maidana last April.

Morales got a lot of credit for that fight because he hung tough and lost by a close 12 round decision against the hard hitting Maidana. However, Morales still was beaten, and getting a second chance seems a bit unfair to the other contenders in the light welterweight division.

Matthysse lost his last fight as well, but I can understand him getting another shot because he probably should have won that fight against Devon Alexander. It was his mistake of agreeing to fight Alexander in his home city. That was Matthysses biggest mistake he made in that fight.

Few boxing fans see Morales as the same fighter he once was. It’s pretty clear to most fans that he’s slipped a lot as a fighter and is pretty much just playing out his string before hanging his gloves up for good. Morales believes that he’s going to prove fans wrong on September 17th by beating the younger Matthysse. I don’t think so.

The only way that I can see Morales pulling off a win here is if he wins it under controversial circumstances with boxing fans at home and at the fight thinking that Matthysse should have won while the judges go off in a different direction and pick Morales.

There’s just too much riding on this fight with Morales, a famous fighter, looking to pick up his 4th world title and popular fighter Amir Khan waiting in the wings hoping to fight Morales in a big money high publicity fight. It almost feels like Matthysse is in a no-win situation here. He may need a knockout to win this fight, even though Morales technically won’t be fighting at home.