Legendary Erik Morales will give unbeaten Danny Garcia a valuable lesson, even if he loses
It's stunning, when you consider it, that anyone at this stage would for a second doubt Erik Morales' ability in the ring.
Yet every time he goes to the post, we find a way to pick against him. He's too old, or the guy he's facing is too fast. Either Morales is too small or his opponent hits too hard. Sometimes, it's all of the above: Morales is too old and too small and his opponent is too fast and too powerful.
Eventually, you learn to doubt the guy at your own peril.
On Saturday, there is a perfectly good reason to doubt the great 35-year-old Mexican brawler once again. He's fighting Danny Garcia at Reliant Stadium in Houston for the World Boxing Council super lightweight title.
Garcia is 11 years younger, naturally bigger, unquestionably faster and probably hits harder. He's 22-0 with 14 knockouts and is coming off an exceptionally impressive victory over ex-world champion Kendall Holt in his last outing.
Garcia is young and preserved, while Morales has been in more wars than General David Petraeus.
"It's his time," Golden Boy Promotions matchmaker Eric Gomez said of Garcia. "It's the classic story of the young guy fighting his way up the rankings and finally getting his shot against the old lion."
Morales wasn't around as Gomez spoke, but he would undoubtedly have rolled his eyes if he had been. For some reason, Morales has been discounted more often than a plaid sports coat.
Perhaps it is his narrow, angular face, his tiny waist and his singular lack of muscular development that makes him so easy to pick against. He's built like Olive Oyl but he fights like a spinach-enhanced Popeye.
Garcia, of course, expressed confidence that he'd win, and why not? Garcia is the unbeaten fighter. He's the one coming off back-to-back victories over ex-world champions and he's the guy with four knockouts in his last six fights.
"Erik Morales, he's a great fighter," Garcia said. "He did a lot for the sport. [He had] great fights with [Marco Antonio] Barrera and [Manny] Pacquiao. He made a mark in the sport. I feel like he's a crafty veteran. He's smart, knows how to fight, knows how to win, but I feel like he had his time to shine and now is my time to shine. Everybody gets their time to shine and come Saturday night, Danny Garcia will be new champion."
Garcia has been extraordinarily respectful of Morales in his public comments and routinely has referred to him as a legend.
Yet he's made no secret of his confidence in himself and his belief he's taking the belt home to Philadelphia.
After Garcia made the same type of pronouncement Thursday at the final news conference, Morales became a bit perturbed.
"I've heard it all before," Morales said. "Can they be that stupid? I am changing my name to 'The Professor.' I'm giving classes."
The lessons he can teach will be priceless, win or lose, for an up-and-comer such as Garcia. He'll be better just for having been in with a guy with a history like Morales.
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Garcia, you may recall, has 22 professional fights. Morales has 22, as well – against men who held a major sanctioning body world title.
Morales (52-7, 36 KOs) is 15-7 against men who at one point in their careers were world champions. He's the last man to have beaten Pacquiao. He's already got a win over one guy who is in the International Boxing Hall of Fame (Daniel Zaragoza) and has beaten four others who at least have a shot to make it (Pacquiao, Barrera, Kevin Kelley and Junior Jones). He's beaten an Olympic medalist (Wayne McCullough) as well as a guy born in 1966 (John Lowey) and one born in 1988 (Pablo Cesar Cano).
There's little he hasn't done and no one of note he hasn't fought. He's won world titles at bantamweight, super bantamweight, featherweight and super lightweight. And even though the Mexican-friendly WBC essentially handed him the last belt on a platter, no one who has followed his career to any significant degree would ever dare to argue he doesn't deserve everything he gets.
Morales has fought in some of the greatest fights of all time. His three bouts against Barrera define his career and are ones for the ages.
His first fight against Pacquiao was epic. His win over Kelley awe-inspiring.
From his earliest days, he not only fought to win but to entertain. Doing so earned him legions of fans, the adoration of a country and enough hardware to fill a trophy case in a school gymnasium.
One of the things that make Morales great, though, is that it's never enough. He's fighting as hard and competing as fiercely as a 35-year-old who is just 4-5 in his last nine as he did in his prime.
"My dreams were always high," Morales said. "My dreams of being somebody in the sport, somebody big, were always there, and we did it through many years of hard work and dedication, and that's what we continue to do."
Garcia may beat him. Eventually, time will catch up with Morales and no matter how badly he wants to fight and win at the highest level, he won't be able.
Whether that time has come, though, is a ticklish question. I suspect it has, but then, I felt that way after Morales lost in his rubber match to Pacquiao back in 2006.
But no matter how much or how little Morales has left, Garcia better be ready to get every ounce of it.
Hugh McIlvaney, the Scotch-born columnist and one of the great sports writers, wrote in 1985 about the style of Marvelous Marvin Hagler, but he could just as easily have been describing Morales: "He was a man possessed, the very incarnation of furious hostility, an enemy who shrank the ring with the heat of his malevolent intent."
No matter the outcome, when the final bell sounds Saturday, Garcia will know that he was just in the ring with a man possessed, the very incarnation of furious hostility.
McIlvanney's words were perfect when applied to Hagler in 1985.
They're equally as apt today in describing Erik Morales.
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