Chicago weekend, Morales says good-bye and Julio Chavez says hello.

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( EMAILWIRE.COM, August 07, 2007 ) Chicago, IL -- www.RingSports.com Erik Morales prepared for what could been his last crusade as he faced David Diaz for Diaz version of the lightweight title. Most pundits and boxing observer viewed Diaz the weakest of the lightweight title holders but Diaz has
always fought at the lightweight and super lightweight division and Morales
was moving up only for the second time to the lightweight division. The last
time he fought at this weight, Zahir Raheem easily outpointed him. Diaz was a
different fighter than Raheem, a fighter who depended upon brawn as oppose to
boxing skills. Diaz strategy was simple; beat Morales to a pulp and force
the old warrior to fight every minute. Take no prisoners and no quarters.

For Morales, the stake was high as it was for Bob Arum, his promoter. Arum
has always featured Hispanic fighters as integral to his stable and Morales
was his crown jewel along with the young Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr.

For Morales to continue his career, he needed to beat Diaz. Lose and his career as a championship contender was over.
Arum featured on this card, both Morales and Chavez. One represented past
glory and the other future. And Arum picked the right town to produce this
card. Chicago is one of the most racially diverse cities and has one of the
largest Hispanic communities. With over million Mexican-Americans and over a
half- million Puerto Ricans, there was a natural base for Arum to sell a card
that featured much local Chicago talent as well as predominately Mexican
fight card.

For years, there has been a revival of Chicago boxing led by 8 Count
productions, the brain child of Dominic Pesoli. Pesoli has built a solid
promotional company that regularly produces solid cards and now has some solid
prospects; some featured on the undercard. For the past several years, Pesoli worked
closely with both Golden Boy Productions and Top Rank to bring nationally
top cards to the Chicago and taking advantages of the Chicago location in the
middle of the country and rabid boxing fans.

Two Middleweight prospects, Michael Walker and Donavan George showed their
own wares. George personally told Arum that he was going to put on a show and
knock his opponent out in style. He did just that as he nailed Shay Mobley,
another local Chicago fighter in just three rounds. George came out smoking
and ended the show in a spectacular knock out. Not be outdone, Walker nailed
Dante Clark with a perfect left hook that sent the Cincinnati native down
for the count. Both fighters are still undefeated and in the case of George,
he has not escaped the notice of Bob Arum.

This could only mean more exposures
for George and for Chicago boxing.
The All-State Arena featured 10,000 fans, many of whom carried Mexican flags
as they celebrated their own cultures. When Ulises Solis came into the
ring to fight Rodel Mayol for the IBF light flyweight title, the crowd noise was
deafening. Both fighters brought in their respective country banners,
Mayol the Philippines flag and Solis, the Mexican flag. Solis outboxed Mayol in
the early rounds, but in the sixth round Mayol garnered momentum as he
nailed Solis with solid shots and even shaking the Mexican fighter. Mayol
continued to dominate in the seventh round and when the eight round began, Solis
held the slight edge on the score card but Mayol had the momentum. Mayol
pursued Solis and after nailing him with a series of combinations, Mayol went for
the kill. As the Philippine fighter moved forward, Solis saw a quick opening
between Mayol guard and threw the perfect right that nailed Mayol right on
the chin. Mayol went down and after nearly 10 seconds of stumbling on the
ground, Mayol made one last effort to beat the count. He failed. And Solis
defended his IBF title.

Julio Chavez is the son of a legend, a Mexican legend. His father was the
famous Julio Cesar Chavez and the Chavez legend is the mark that all young
Mexican fighters are now judged. Chavez featured a devastating left hook that
sapped the strength out of his opponent and eventually weakened him for the
final assault. His son looks like a carbon copy of his father but there are
differences as well. Chavez, Jr. is bigger than his father and at 6 feet; he
is tall for a welterweight and super welterweight. The young Mexican fighter
often gives up his height as he concentrates on body shots just like his
dad. Fighting against Louis Brown, he repeatedly ripped left hooks to Brown's
body in their fight. These hooks set up his other arsenal which included a
sharp looking up cuts and short but accurate right hands. Brown occasionally
countered with right hands over the left hooks but eventually the hooks digging
to the right side of Brown body sapped Brown's strength.

Brown survived a knockdown in the fourth but trapped in the corner by a
barrage of Chavez power shots in the fifth caused the referee to stop the fight.
Chavez was originally scheduled to fight Arturo Gatti but the Gatti lost
eliminated that fight but now Chavez next bout will be against former contender
fighter Alfonso Gomez, who sent Gatti into retirement. Gomez will represent
a move up for Chavez and Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is thinking that this
bout happens in January or maybe in December. In the meantime, Chavez will be
matched with a tune up to keep him in the ring. Chavez represents the future
for Top Rank but Morales was part of its glorious past.

Erik Morales looked liked a fighter more relieved than irritated or mad that
he lost to David Diaz. This was a close fight that could have easily have
gone either way. Just look at the official scoring. Two of the three judges
had the first round a 10-9 round even though Morales nailed Diaz with a
right that sent Diaz sprawling to the canvas. Diaz won the first two minutes and
30 seconds of the round but most judges will give a fighter a 10-8 when he
scores a knockdown. On this night, only one of three judges scored it a
10-8. One judge gave Diaz a 10-8 round advantage in the second round despite a
referee scoring a Morales fall to the canvas as a slip. What if the one judge
scored the second round a 10-9 as oppose to a 10-8 or what if all three
judges scored the first round a 10-8? The decision would have been a draw and
Diaz would still have kept his title. Regardless, Morales fail to defeat what
most observers consider the weakest of the lightweight champions and Morales
knew that his career as a championship contender over.

Morales have been one of Mexico great fighters and his career has Hall of
Fame written all over. The problem for Morales is that now, he can no longer
comfortably fight at junior lightweight or featherweight and he does not have
the power or quickness to fight the best lightweights. Diaz simply outmuscled
Morales throughout the fight. Diaz did not use boxing tactics or skills;
he simply kept pressuring Morales throughout the fight and wore Morales down.
Morales held the advantages over the early rounds but Diaz natural strength
took precedence in the latter rounds.

The last round showed the difference between the two fighters. Diaz, with
his right eye swollen shut, came out with grittiness and determination. He
started to throw punches from all angles and never stopped throughout the round.
Diaz forced Morales to the rope repeatedly and his power punches nailed
Morales to the body or to the head. Morales had nothing much left as the
round wore on. The old warrior had nothing left to give and it was as if
hundreds of rounds fighting tough wars against some of the best fighters of his
generation took their toll. Morales no longer had the strength to fight Diaz
off and Diaz simply moved through Morales as Morales's punches no longer had
the steam. There was a time that Morales was considered one of boxing more
feared puncher but now in the twelfth round, those punches could no longer
hold off the waves of punches coming in his direction. His ability to escape
was no longer and now he became a punching bag for the last three minutes of
his fight.

After the fight, Morales accepted the reality as he told the media that they
saw the last of Morales in the ring. There are times in which every
fighter faces this moment and Morales looked in the mirror and saw a fighter that
could no longer be a championship fighter. He lost five of his last six
fighters and yes, he lost a close fight to Diaz but he still lost. Morales can no
longer compete with the best of the lightweights and no longer has the desire
to fight at lower weights where he made history. Despite the occasional
protest from his team, Morales' face said it all. It was a face that said, 'I
left all in the ring and there is nothing less to give.- Morales fought a
tough fight against a good fighter but it was no longer enough. Morales
walked away.

For Bob Arum, he stated in a the post fight interviews that he is looking to
return to the Midwest to look for talent and augment his Hispanic stable.
His next big star could be hard slugging Kelly Pavlik, who challenges Jermaine
Taylor for the true Middleweight championship. Arum is counting on Pavlik
not just upset Taylor but become a star in his own right and is part of this
Top Rank strategy of augmentation.
If Pavlik pulls off the upset and Chavez fulfills his potential; Arum will
be armed with two attractive PPV stars. One a Midwest slugging Middleweight
and the other a son of a legend. As for Morales, his days have long passed
but the memories of his great battles with Barrera and Pacquiao still stir
boxing fans. Morales were part of a generation of great Mexican featherweights
who thrilled an entire generation of boxing fans for the past decade.
Morales place in boxing history is set as one of boxing's and Mexico great
warriors.

For more information, go to www.RingSports.com, or contact RngSportsR@aol.com.



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