Image via WikipediaIn his prime, and even as his
hall-of-fame career began to wind down, there was no better elite-level warrior than
Erik Morales. Few fighters of the past 20 years were as consistently entertaining against the sport’s best as the
Tijuana native, who produced fight-of-the-year ring wars and instant-classic trilogies with fellow first-ballot hall of famers
Marco Antonio Barrera and
Manny Pacquiao.
Best
boxer:
Junior Jones -- This is a tough question. I faced a lot of good boxers in my career, but I think Jones might be the best. He had very good technique. He threw straight, accurate punches. He could punch too. He hurt me in our fight.
Best puncher: Jones -- I really felt it when he connected. I remember freezing for a second in the second round of our fight when he caught me with a right hand.
Quickest hands: Pacquiao -- Pacquiao had the quickest hands. Jones was faster with single punches from the outside, but Pacquiao could deliver four or five quick, short punches in combination in the blink of an eye. Both guys had the kind of speed that you couldn’t see.
Quickest feet: Hector Acero-Sanchez -- He kept running or walking around the ring the entire fight. I never knew where he was going or what he was going to do. I just wanted to fight. It was a frustrating night.
Best defense: Acero-Sanchez -- I had a hard time finding him. He kept his gloves up and he never stopped moving in and out and around me.
Best chin: In-Jin Chi -- That was one very tough guy. I should have knocked him out with the number of hard punches I landed to his chin, but he just kept coming forward all night. He was strong and he had great conditioning.”
Best jab:
Zahir Raheem -- Everything he did was off his jab. That was his
key punch. He was all about the jab, and that jab gave me trouble.
Strongest: Pacquiao -- Often guys who are as muscular looking as he is aren’t that strong in the ring, but he is strong. Very strong. Chi was physically strong, too. He had the strength to push me around and wrestle with me on the inside, but Pacquiao was more explosive. He is a very powerful man in the ring.
Smartest: Raheem -- I never liked the way he fought and I didn’t like that fight for me. I knew it would be difficult. I didn’t have the best camp for Raheem, but even if I had had a great camp, he would have been frustrating because he’s so cagey.
“My fights with Barrera and Pacquiao are among those tough fights, but I don’t see them as being any more special than my tough fights with (Wayne)
McCullough, (Guty) Espadas, Chi, (
Jesus) Chavez, (Carlos) Hernandez and (David) Diaz. I’ve had so many wars I forget some of them. You or anyone else can probably put together a Top 20 list of my toughest fights.”
That’s why Morales is a modern legend.
Image by Getty Images via @daylife
