Morales swings at history
CHICAGO – Erik Morales hopes to make history when he takes on David Diaz for the WBC lightweight championship today in an attempt to become the first Mexican fighter to win a world title in four weight classes.
On Friday, he barely made weight.
Morales (48-5, 34 knockouts) weighed 135 pounds, the limit, on his second try. Diaz (32-1-1, 17 knockouts), a Chicagoan making his first defense, checked in at 133 3/4 for the bout in Rosemont, Ill.
With rumors circulating that he was having trouble making weight, Morales stepped off the teetering scale. He tried again and, this time, gave the thumbs up sign before leaving the room.
“I was looking right at it,” said Jim Strickland, Diaz’s trainer. “(Morales) weighed what he weighed. He weighed 135.”
Diaz said Morales simply “looks like another fighter. He’s a professional. He should know what he has to do. I can’t say anything else. … I just know I’m ready.”
The 30-year-old Morales has proven through the years that he knows what to do and is more than just another fighter. The question is whether he has anything left.
A former champion at 122, 126 and 130, he’s trying to do something no Mexican has done – not even greats such as Julio Cesar Chavez, Ricardo Lopez, Salvador Sanchez and Marco Antonio Barrera. But he has dropped four of five fights and three straight. His lone win during that stretch was a unanimous decision in March 2005 over Manny Pacquiao, who beat Morales on a 10th-round technical knockout and a third-round knockout in rematches last year.
Morales said earlier in the week he would fight once more in his hometown of Tijuana if he wins this bout. Otherwise, he will retire.
Morales also said he wanted to fight Diaz in the Chicago area “because I want the fans here to see me fight, and if the win comes, there’s some validity to it.”
For Diaz, a win would add some validity to his championship.
He stopped Jose Armando Santa Cruz in the 10th round of a fight he was losing last August to become the mandatory challenger for the title. Diaz, 31, got the belt when the WBC stripped Joel Casamayor.
“We’re going to have fun tomorrow, and I want the city of Chicago to know this fight is for them,” Diaz said.
Also on the card promoted by Bob Arum, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (32-0-1, 25) meets Louis Brown (15-2, 10) in a 10-round super welterweight fight.