Quote Originally Posted by Rotten Apple
Name the fighter you saw for the first time and immediately became a fan of. I\'m not talking about the fighter that grew on you. I\'m talking about the fighter that hooked you right away. For me it was Jorge Arce. I first saw Arce back in the late 90\'s when he was giving Michael Carbajal a boxing lesson. He was not in the least bit in awe of the former champion. I began rooting for him around the 4th round. I was heart broken when Cabajal knocked him out. What really made me a fan of Arce was what happened afterwards. He didn\'t not let the loss destroyed his career. He became champion and went unbeaten for another 10 years.

Erik Morales vs Ayala

With those amazing skills he displayed on that fight... it has to be the ONLY time I've ever seen a live fight and been blown completely out of the water. I was an immediate fan.

Only to go online to do further research of "El Terrible"
and to find that he was IGNORED by MAXBOXING, RING MAGAZINE, AND SITE'S SUCH AS THIS...
I became a complete follower of Morales. heheh Seen him fight Pac live, knew he'd win the first one too.

(Back then he wasn't ignored, he was just thought as another rival of Barrera, when I KNEW he was much more than that.)

He more than deserved to break Mexican Legend Ceasar Chavez' fourth division title record.
Morales is the complete package.
Like a Hopkins, you could match him up past greats and hall of famers and he could hold his own.
I don't think there is a fighter around him, in his time who could decisively beat thim.

Even Pac had to wait until Morales started to skip a beat or two,
and could no longer fit healthy in his division. By that time, Pac was IN his Prime, Morales was exiting it AND had to deal with what older fighter's call "weight problems."
(By the way... Morales is the ONLY fighter to truely defeat Pac, while the PacMonster was on his Terror Run.)

Watching, to my surprise and complete joy, Morales take apart a BIGGER Diaz and unfairly lose a decision yet finish using all he had to the last bell, with a young champion in Diaz, was the sinker.......... this man is simply phenomenal.

Pacquiao couldn't beat this guy in his prime. Barrera will always give him trouble, yet Morales will always give Barrera trouble as well. (Very similiar to Norton & Ali by the way.) Morales is the best of this generation. No man with gloves on right now has ever matched Muhammad Ali in two classic trilogies with Hall of Fame fighters, except "El Terrible." No man. Not even Hopkins. *(Which is kind of unfair to say, because Hopkins never had big scary legends surrounding him... like a PacMonster or a Baby Face Assassin.)

And by all this talk, you'd think I'm Mexican, but I'm not. p.s. Muhammad Ali was The Greatest!