Thread: Erik Morales: "I Want Juan Manuel Marquez in May"

It's no secret that former three-division champion Erik Morales wants to come out of retirement for a final run in 2009.



The Mexican legend has been retired since a close decision loss to David Diaz in August of 2007. There were quite a few people who felt that Morales did enough to earn the decision against Diaz. The more Morales heard that he should have won the fight, the more he wanted to return. Morales has been winless in his last three ring appearances, which include two brutal knockouts at the hands of Manny Pacquiao


"I want to return in May of 2009 against a top opponent and I want to put on a good performance to show that I still have what it takes to be in the ring again," Morales told NotiMex.


Morales wants to fight fellow Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez. Morales was last under contract with Top Rank, who no longer want to promote the fight. Top Rank head Bob Arum says that Morales told him after the Diaz bout that he felt a buzzing noise in head after taking some hard punches.


"Top Rank is like a family to me, we worked together for many years, but they no longer want to work with me," Morales said.


Morales has already spoken with Golden Boy Promotions about the possibilty of fighting Marquez. He says the reason Pacquiao beat him was due to his struggles with the weight. He says the Filipino champion did everything to avoid the two of them fighting at lightweight.


"We are in negotiations. In a few weeks will be laying out a summary of our talks. It will be a very anticipated fight. People saw Morales-Barrera, Barrera-Pacquiao, Morales-Pacquiao and Barrera-Marquez. The only thing missing is Morales-Marquez," Morales said.


"I beat Manny and he had two close fights with the Filipino, and a lot of people thought he won. This will be a collision of two guys who beat Pacquiao. Pacquiao claims to be the best in the world, but I don't agree. Although he beat me later on, he never wanted to give me an opportunity to fight him at lightweight - he wanted nothing to do with me there. Making super featherweight killed me."

no, no, no, NO!!

Erik Morales is shot. He's done. His tank is on empty.

There's a reason Top Rank doesn't want to work with him anymore, because they know as well as anyone that he's shot.

Juan Manuel Marquez would badly hurt Morales.

This is a horrible idea and should not be allowed. Morales had his time in the sun and it was good and respectable. Those days are past.

Originally Posted by killersheep

This is a horrible idea and should not be allowed. Morales had his time in the sun and it was good and respectable. Those days are past.

yep, very bad idea for Erik. but i would watch it anyway. HAH theres another thread with the same topic. hmmmmmmm

I can see Morales getting stopped in the fight. Either way I dont think Marquez will take it, hes on the warpath to fight PAC again. Therefore he will move up in weight etc to keep the fight alive. I want JMM to move up to 140 and fight Hatton if Hatton beats PM.

Agree with all the above. Retirement must really kill these guys.

Stay retired Erik. You've already proven your greatness.

but he look better when he fought diaz.after he knock diaz down in the 1st round look how he celebrated.he ran to the neutral corner like he just scored a goal!i think he found something inside him after that KD.he was boxing from the 2nd round on.and i think he knew he won the fight.i did.erik got something left.he look bad against raheem because he got used to that bang up style of pacquiao.he got surprised.but his 2 fights at lightweight he both scored a KD against raheem and diaz.he has power at 135.because of that i believe the weight is the real issue.and of course pac's style.
ERIK has a lot left.i agree he needs a couple of tuneup fights.hes an underrated boxer.he aint really a slugger.i remember larry merchant once said that barerra was the slugger who learned how to box(against hamed),,while morales was the boxer who got used to brawling.he was often victorious but it doestn show the best of him.and also,,it just happened he found a better slugger of a manny pacquiao.but hes not shot.its a mental thing in erik's case.or thats what im thinking i should say