Erik Morales has long etched his name into boxing immortality, having been inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2018.
Morales, Mexico’s first four-division champion, will eventually be joined by his fellow countryman,
Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. First, though, Canelo will look to add to his already outstanding legacy on
Sept. 13 when he defends his undisputed super middleweight title against Terence Crawford in Las Vegas.
Morales gave his thoughts on the superfight and believes it could easily go either way, with the size difference, Canelo’s power and Crawford’s ability to take a punch being among the deciding factors when two of this era’s best finally clash.
“I know Canelo has gone through a lot of weight classes and I know it’s a very important fight,” Morales told
The Ring via translator. “Crawford came up two weight classes for this fight, but Canelo as well. He comes from 147. If Canelo is a very strong puncher and a big fighter, it’s not an even fight.”
Morales (52-9, 36 KOs) had an illustrious career that included wins over fellow Hall of Famers Manny Pacquiao and Marco Antonio Barrera. He won titles at junior featherweight, featherweight, junior lightweight and junior welterweight. He claimed his last world title on Sept. 17, 2011, when he stopped Pablo Cesar Cano in the 10th round to win the WBC junior welterweight strap.
Morales, 48, has had two stints as
Jaime Munguia’s trainer before the latter opted to join Eddy Reynoso for his last fight vs
Bruno Surace on May 3.
Canelo (63-2-2, 39 KOs) began his career at 140 pounds before going on to win world titles at junior middleweight, middleweight, super middleweight and light heavyweight. Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs), a two-division undisputed champion, won his first world title at lightweight before becoming the undisputed champion at junior welterweight and welterweight. He won the WBA junior middleweight title in his last fight when he defeated
Israil Madrimov on Aug. 3 and has never fought above 154 pounds.
Canelo, 34, is a two-time undisputed champion at super middleweight, achieving the feat for a second time when he
defeated William Scull by unanimous decision on May 3 to set the stage for the superfight against Crawford.
There’s no shortage of question marks, especially after Canelo’s less-than-thrilling performance against Scull, who showed no interest in engaging to turn it into one of the worst title fights in recent memory. How Crawford, 37, fares moving up two weight classes after what will be a 13-month layoff only adds to the drama of one of the rare fights that could give a clear-cut answer to who is the best fighter of their era
While Canelo is the naturally bigger fighter, Crawford is an inch taller and boasts the longer reach, despite having to move up 14 pounds. Morales believes those two advantages, along with Crawford’s skills and ability to fight out of both stances, only add to the unpredictability of this fight.
“Crawford is a [longer] fighter,” Morales said. “He has more speed. He has a better technique in fighting and a lot of things can happen in this fight. They could look for each other during those 12 rounds, but if things go as planned, Crawford could take the fight.”