Erik Morales likely to defend WBC belt in December

By Boxing News - 09/23/2011 - Comments

Image: Erik Morales likely to defend WBC belt in DecemberBy Allen Fox: 35-year-old WBC light welterweight champion Erik Morales (52-7, 36 KO’s) is reportedly looking to get back in the ring quickly to defend his newly won World Boxing Council title in December in a fight that will be taking place in Mexico.

Morales recently captured the WBC belt with a grueling 10th round stoppage of 21-year-old fringe contender Pablo Cesar Cano on September 17th on the undercard of the Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Victor Ortiz card in Las Vegas, Nevada. Morales struggled badly against a fighter that he should have been able to beat with ease.

Morales ended up taking a lot of punishment in the fight, but was able to wear down the little known Cano and get the stoppage in the second half of the fight. However, Morales suffered a cut over his left eye and it might be rushing things a bit for Morales to be coming back this quickly after suffering a cut.

Morales had originally said he didn’t plan on fighting again until Marco 2012 in order to let the cut heal properly. But it looks as if he wants to get back in the ring and squeeze in an payday before looking to fight a unification bout against WBA light welterweight champion Marcos Maidana in March 2012, if Maidana is still the WBA champion by then.

Morales will almost surely fight a lower ranked contender in December rather than someone ranked higher that would have an excellent chance of beating him. The good news here is that the World Boxing Council has a number of weaker fighters that Morales, even this faded version, can probably beat. It won’t be easy, as he doesn’t have the physical tools to beat anyone easy anymore but he should be able to win another grueling fight and hopefully come out of the other end in one piece for a possible fight against Maidana next year.



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