Tag Archives: Erik Morales

Is Danny Garcia the Fighter of the Year?

Posted: October 22nd, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Boxing, Sports Blog | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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When I first saw the stories and blogs this morning suggesting Danny Garcia as a fighter of the year candidate, I scoffed. Really? He just beat a fighter who has been shot for years, and beat an Amir Khan that was coming off a loss. That was my initial reaction.

Morales has long been a shot fighter and was coming into the fight with a 4-5 record since September of 2005. His world title was the one stripped from Timothy Bradley, and his best fight since 2005 was a loss to Marcos Maidana. Khan was coming off a loss to Lamont Peterson and has two losses in a row. Yes, Khan is a legitimate star in the sport and a great champion. I just wish he didn’t back up the victory with another fight against Morales, but someone who is a little hotter. That’s not Garcia’s fault as there was a rematch clause.

Now don’t get me wrong, I think highly of Danny Garcia. No fighter has come as far as he has in 2012 and he is definitely the breakout star in boxing. And the knockout of Khan was very impressive and a strong candidate for upset of the year.

But then you have to look at the other candidates for fighter of the year. It’s not very deep, and no obvious leading candidate in my eyes.

Brandon Rios beat Mike Alvarado in the leading fight of the year candidate. But was unimpressive and booed in April in his win over Richard Abril, where he failed to make weight.

Sergio Martinez has a very dominant performance for 11 rounds against Julio Cesar Chavez in the best pay-per-view fight of the year. He also had a rugged victory over Matthew Macklin. But the last round against Chavez, you felt like Martinez was lucky to get through that round.

Nonito Donaire has continued to dominate with three big victories in his first year in the super bantamweight division, winning two world titles.

Andre Ward only had one fight this year, but he dominated light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson. Still, he’s just not active enough for consideration.

Canelo Alvarez? Please. He needs to fight better competition.

There’s still two-and-a-half months to go to see if someone can win it. Garcia is not in the driver’s seat, but he is in the mix.

And hopefully Garcia will start his year off with a bang and take on the highly respected and dangerous Lucas Matthysse, which could be a fight of the year candidate.

Amir Khan will fight for Timothy Bradley’s title against Danny Garcia

Posted: July 13th, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Boxing, Sports Blog | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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It was a year ago when Timothy Bradley passed on a fight against Amir Khan that drew heavy criticism, much of it generated by the British champion. Khan said Bradley was ducking him and scared of him. Well Bradley passed on the fight, let his contract run out with Gary Shaw and Ken Thompson, and then signed with Top Rank. Bradley went on to fight Manny Pacquiao for much more money. Khan went on to lose a controversial decision in December to Lamont Peterson, a guy Bradley dominated.

So now Khan needs to win to regain some of the tarnish partly because of the loss and partly because of the long layoff. The reason Khan hasn’t fought for so long was that a rematch with Peterson fell through because Peterson tested positive for a synthetic testosterone that had been perscribed to him for medical reasons. Khan is working to regain the two belts he lost to Peterson, who admitted he was using the same treatment prior to their fight in December. But in the loss, Khan was exposed for his struggles against pressure and fighting inside, where he tends to take more punishment than he should.

Now Khan will fight Danny Garcia, who holds the WBC belt. If you don’t remember, the WBC belt was the title Bradley has won twice, only to relinquish it the first time and then was stripped for bogus reasons the second time that the WBC tried to window dress by saying Bradley was a champion in recess.

Khan said Garcia is a similar fighter to Peterson and he is prepared for his style. But Khan can’t afford a second consecutive loss so he really needs to stay disciplined and not take unneccessary punishment. The carrot dangling in front of him is a possible fight against Floyd Mayweather. Because Khan works out with Manny Pacquiao and they share trainer Freddie Roach, it’s unlikely Khan will secure that lucrative fight. So he’ll have to settle for Mayweather, whose opponents earn half what they would against Pacquiao. If the fight is offered to Khan immediately, he will have some tough decisions to make. He has fought his whole career at 140, and Mayweather last fought at 154. It’s likely Mayweather will leave Khan no choice but to go up in weight.

But there’s also the chance Khan could fight Bradley if Top Rank doesn’t make the Bradley-Pacquiao rematch on Nov. 10. With all the controversy swirling around Bradley’s victory over Pacquiao, this fight could generate much, much more than a year ago. It’s a fight Khan covets, and Bradley really wants to beat up Khan. Of course the main hurdle is if Top Rank and Golden Boy can work together to make the fight happen.

But first things first. Garcia is a tough, undefeated opponent. He won the title beating a very old and worn Erik Morales, who was gifted Bradley’s title. So Garcia has a lot to prove in this fight. A victory will move him among the elite fighters in the division.So you can bet Garcia will come in hungry and determined. That can make up for a lot, in what we saw from Josesito Lopez’s stunning victory over Victor Ortiz.

 

 

Now Erik Morales can’t make weight to defend title he stole from Timothy Bradley

Posted: March 23rd, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Boxing, Sports Blog | Tags: , , , , , , , ,
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Erik Morales came in two pounds overweight at Friday’s weigh in and will lose the belt he essentially stole from Timothy Bradley.

Morales will fight Danny Garcia on Saturday night for the WBC super lightweight belt. If Garcia wins, he will claim the title. If Morales wins, the title will be vacated.

As reported in ESPN.com, Morales will have to pay Garcia $50,000 for not making weight by two pounds. Morales was to make $1 million for the fight.

Bradley was prematurely stripped of the WBC belt because   of inactivity. But Bradley returned to the ring in nine months, more than ample time stipulated by the WBC.

In Morales’ two fights, he earned approximately $1.35 million. Bradley will earn $6 million. The WBC gets 3 percent in sanctioning fees, so it missed out on a lot of money.

How the WBC’s corruption cost it a ton of money with Timothy Bradley

Posted: March 21st, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Boxing, Sports Blog | Tags: , , , , , , ,
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If you watch the Erik Morales vs. Danny Garcia this weekend fight for the WBC super lightweight title, you may end up lauging at the expense of the WBC. The belt was held by Cathedral City’s Timothy Bradley, who had twice on the title.

When Bradley was going through his messy divorce from former promoters Gary Shaw and Ken Thompson, the WBC decided to remove the title from Bradley because of his uncertain future. Bradley had seven months of inactivity, and a fighter needs to defend his title every 11 months, so the WBC declared Bradley a champion in recess. The real reason they stripped him is because they wanted to give the title to Morales so he can be the first Mexican boxer to claim four titles in different weight class. Never mind that Morales wasn’t the No. 1 contender (he was No. 3 at the time) and that he was fighting someone who wasn’t even ranked. They changed the opponent twice, setting for another tomato can. Morales won the paper title. Morales is promoted by Golden Boy Promotions, and it worked behind the scenes on Morales’ behalf.

So here’s where the joke is on the WBC. Since Bradley is no longer the champion, he doesn’t have to pay the sanctioning fees, which is 3 percent.  Well Bradley wound up fighting in November, which is 10 months removed from his previous fight and well under the WBC deadline. Bradley’s payout was over $1 million, which would have been $30,000. Now that Bradley will fight Pacquiao and his purse is expected to be about $5 million, the WBC stood to earn $150,000, even though they wouldn’t be fighting for Bradley’s belt. Bradley will retain his title after the June 9 fight against Pacquiao, and the WBC would stand to earn even more money if Bradley fights well enough to become a superstar.

I’m not sure what Erik Morales is making for this fight, his second under the WBC, but I’m pretty sure his purses haven’t totalled $6 million. According to one online report, Morales made $350,000 for the title fight, which was under the Floyd Mayweather-Victor Ortiz undercard. For Saturday’s fight, you would suspect it would still be in the same ball park.

Enjoy Morales as your champion WBC. Hope it was worth all the money you lost.

Timothy Bradley, one step closer to Manny Pacquiao bout

Posted: September 29th, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Boxing, Sports Blog | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
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What was expected, Timothy Bradley signed with Top Rank, the promotion company run by Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum. There was a big reason why Bradley signed with Top Rank, and that was to get a shot at Manny Pacquiao, the cash cow of boxing along with Floyd Mayweather.

Because promoters rarely have their fighters box against guys from other promotion companies, Bradley had to sign with Top Rank to get a shot at Pac-Man. The other big gun in boxing is Golden Boy Promotion. But Golden Boy wasn’t happy when Bradley didn’t fight Amir Khan. It was also one of their other fighters, Erik Morales, that pushed to get Bradley’s title removed so Morales could fight some tomato can for the title. Obviously, that relationship probably wasn’t going to work. The other big name in boxing, Don King, just isn’t active as much and his fighters don’t have enough bouts. That has been a problem for Bradley who has only had two fights in two years.

So when would Bradley get a chance at Pac-Man? It could be sooner than you think. Tentatively, the talk has been that Pacquiao would next fight in May. If things go well, it could be the fight fans have been clammoring for — Floyd Mayweather. But there’s been talks for years and nothing has come of it. First, it was Pacquiao’s refusal to take a drug test, and then Mayweather has turned down recent offers. That fight should be the top priority for both fighters. If not, then Bradley could step in. And it would be Pacquiao’s toughest fight. It’s been a long time since he’s fought a fighter under 30 and in the prime of their career.

Bradley also wanted to sign with Arum for another reason, they actually promote fighters. After Bradley won his first world championship in 2008, he has been frustrated by the lack of promotion he got from his two promoters. And other boxing experts have concurred that Bradley wasn’t promoted as well as he should have been. He’s an American fighter near a major market in Los Angeles and few boxing people know about The Desert Storm. Palm Springs is in such close proximity to Los Angeles and Las Vegas, it’s a wonder why he has NEVER fought in those two cities.

What will happen with Bradley and his lawsuit with Shaw and Thompson? Who knows.  But apparently it’s nothing that can stop Timothy Bradley.

Erik Morales will fight Lucas Matthysse for Timothy Bradley’s title

Posted: August 3rd, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Boxing, Sports Blog | Tags: , , , , , , , ,
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Erik Morales will actually fight a good opponent in Lucas Matthysse, but it’s not a legitimate fight for the WBC title. Well, in my estimation. Apparently not for the WBC and Golden Boy Promotions.

Matthysse should have had wins against Zab Judah and Devon Alexander, as he scored knock downs in both, but lost both decisions. And the two losses were in Judah and Alexander’s turf. This fight will be in Las Vegas, so Matthysse will have a legitimate shot against Morales.

The only problem is, both fighters are coming off losses. They shouldn’t be fighting for a world title.

And the WBC seems like they’re going through the motions trying to justify this fraud. The WBC tried to do damage control by saying Bradley wasn’t stripped, but is a champion in recess. Not sure what that means, but Bradley doesn’t have his title, and the WBC never said he would get an automatic title shot when he returns. It was stripped, no matter who the WBC tries to spin it.

Golden Boy is involved with this. But to their credit, they did get a more deserving fighter in there in Matthysse. And this will be a great bout. It just should not be for the title. Can’t see how the Golden Boy people can look themselves in the mirror after participating in this fraud.

To their credit, they have put on a terrific Sept. 17 pay-per-view from two sites — Las Vegas and Staples Center. But the title fraud is casting a cloud over that company as well as the WBC.

Now people thought Khan would have taking on Morales, assuming he won the fight, for three of the four belts in the 140-pound division. That doesn’t seem likely now, as Khan will have a mandatory title defense against Lamont Peterson. This will be a good measuring stick. Peterson was dominated by Bradley in his only loss and fought Victor Ortiz to a draw. Peterson fights with a lot of heart, as he battled throughout the Bradley fight despite being outgunned. Peterson will come to fight, unlike Judah. Khan said December would be his last fight at 140. Ideally, it should be against Bradley, but his status is in limbo with the legal problems. Peterson is much more worthy than Morales. Yes, Morales is a Hall of Famer fighter with three titles. But Peterson is a man in his prime, and has done well enough against two of the best young fighters today.

Timothy Bradley and the WBC mess

Posted: July 28th, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Boxing, Sports Blog | Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
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Timothy Bradley has had a pretty crazy week, to say the least. The latest is the WBC stripping Bradley for the second time. You would think Bradley getting stripped won’t stand, since doing it violates all of the WBC’s rules. Bradley has up to a year to fight a mandatory, and there’s no mandatory for him right now. And he’s only been inactive for six months. Bradley’s lawsuit with promoters Gary Shaw and Ken Thompson shouldn’t have an effect on Bradley defending his title. So if the WBC doesn’t recind the strip, then this issue will be settled in court.

But the WBC should be embarrassed to even attempt to do this. None of it makes sense and they raised the ire of some noted boxing observers. Below is some of the tweets when the news broke.

 @JoseSulaiman How can you give Morales a title shot coming off a loss when Bradley is within the mandatory period? Disgraceful.

Kevin Iole, Yahoo!

Here’s thing, wasn’t Golden Boy not going to get caught up in the ‘alphabet soup’ madness? Morales-Barrios for WBC 140 is JUST that #boxing

Steve Kim, Max Boxing

Folks can be rightfully upset at the WBC regarding the stripping of Bradley- but Golden Boy is in cohoot’s too, don’t forget that #boxing

Steve Kim, Max Boxing

 

Gypsy Rose Lee alert! WBC strips Timothy Bradley of his WBC super lightweight title. Trail of boa feathers leads to Mexico City!

Fred Sternburg, President of Sternburg Communications and handles Manny Pacquiao’s PR.

How do YOU feel about the WBC stripping Tim Bradley of his super lightweight title? Email “No way Jose!” to: suljos@gmail.com

Fred Sternburg, President of Sternburg Communications and handles Manny Pacquiao’s PR.

I’d like to see the WBC strip President Obama, Speaker Boehner and Majority Leader Reid over the way they have screwed up the deficit deal

Fred Sternburg, President of Sternburg Communications and handles Manny Pacquiao’s PR.
Wretched WBC should open a strip joint? @josesulaiman knows how to strip. You can have a dance, for a small sanctioning fee #wbcisdisgusting

Dan Rafael, ESPN

Ask yoursleves: Would @josesulaiman have stripped Bradley if he was Mexican? The wretched WBC doesn’t even have a 140 mandatory right now.

Dan Rafael, ESPN

 

Tim Bradley has been stripped as many times by the WBC (twice) as he’s had fights in the past 16 months. #wbcisdisgusting #fact

Dan Rafael, ESPN

I’m sure the disgusting WBC’s puppet board of governors voted unanimously to strip Bradley and sanction Morales-Barrios. #wbcisdisgusting

Dan Rafael, ESPN

This whole Morales/Barrios/Bradley farce is because @JoseSulaiman wants Morales to get that 4th title. #wbcisdisgusting

Dan Rafael, ESPN

If horrific WBC is going to strip Bradley shouldn’t it order the eliminator already scheduled, Ajose Olusegun & Ali Chebah, for vacant belt?

Dan Rafael, ESPN

Tim Bradley may made a poor decision to not fight Khan, but in no way should he be stripped by the horrible WBC banditos. #wbcisdisgusting

Dan Rafael, ESPN

And @goldenboyboxing, which said it wanted to change the way #boxing business is done, supports this sham. Shame, shame, shame.

Dan Rafael, ESPN

Morales-Barrios nice fight in ring, but joke as “title” fight. Will be cheap way for Morales to claim he’s 1st 4-division champ from Mexico.

Dan Rafael, ESPN

How wretched is the WBC? Stripped Bradley of 140 title even though he is well within his mandatory period & 6 mths since last fight

Then wretched WBC sanctions Erik Morales (coming off a loss) to fight Jorge Barrios (never fought at 140, inactive 11 mths) for vacant belt.

Dan Rafael, ESPN