Sitting here at two something in the morning wide awake and bored while the rest of the world sleeps...I ponder the question...does Erik Morales have a case for claiming the title as the greatest Super Bantamweight (122 lb) champion of all-time?
Now I know that conventional wisdom would say that Wilfredo Gomez is the greatest fighter to ever compete at that weight. I personally think that he would be a fine choice to hold that distinction and he certainly achieved enough to be crowned the 122 pound king. He was nearly a complete package...speed, devastating power in both hands, balance, technique, timing, intelligence, tenacity...
Mr. Morales is now at the end of his career and his accomplishments at Super Bantamweight were something to behold. It may be difficult to assess how spectacular he was fighting down there because he is just now coming off 3 ugly , ugly losses in a row and that is still fresh in the minds of boxing fans. When we look back on his career at lower weights though, I think he certainly has a case to be called one of the all-time great Super Bantamweight fighters...and possibly even the greatest of all-time (just to play devils advocate here). Now for a quick breakdown by way of gringo (comparison of Morales' career and Gomez' career).
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-Wilfredo Gomez' campaign at 122 pounds came out looking something like 38-0-1 (38).
-Gomez defended his WBC belt 17/18 times after beating Kun Yum for the title in 1977. I believe he stopped every one of his opponents during his title reign...among those wins were victories over the great Carlos Zarate and Lupe Pintor. Gomez also beat some other solid fighters in there like Royal Kobayashi and Juan Meza.
-In all he beat one official hall of fame fighter (Zarate) at Super Bantam (although Pintor was HOF caliber) and five(?) former titlists. Gomez fought them all...and even though he wasn't as successful at higher weights as he would have liked (one sided beating by Sanchez...bad knockout losses at the hands of Nelson and Layne) he was a three division champ. Gomez was just 5'5 but he knew how to fight big and had a left hook that could take his opponents head smooth off.
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-Erik Morales' Super Bantamweight reign lasted nearly 7 years with Morales going 36-0-0 (28).
-Morales won the WBC Super Bantamweight title from hall of fame champion Daniel Zaragoza in 1997, stopping him in the 11th round with a killer right hand to the solar plexus. Morales then went on to defend his title 9 times, while unifying the WBC belt with the WBO title when he won a split decision over Marco Antonio Barrera. Among the fighters he beat during his championship reign were *already noted* HOF enshrinee Daniel Zaragoza, soon to be HOF enshrinee Marco Antonio Barrera, and some other solid fighters like Wayne McCullough and Junior Jones.
-In all Morales beat one fighter already in the HOF, another who is a virtual lock for the HOF, and 6 former/current titlists at 122. He also fought anyone who was anyone at Super Bantam, cleaning out the best his division had to offer. Morales was also a very active champion...something to be respected by todays standards. At the end of his 122 pound reign he fought 5 times in one year! Morales was also the complete package. He could box/brawl, he had a wonderful jab when he used it, he had great timing and technique, he was very heavy handed, he had great size and knew how to use it, he had one of the best right hands in the biz, and he had a granite chin that never let him down. Morales was significantly more successful at higher weights than was Gomez, but that's to be thought of outside of their 122 pound careers.
Okay, so in closing after this long-winded analysis, does Morales have a case here? He has a pretty damned impressive resume, even if it doesn't quite stack up with Gomez' spectacular ledger. Discuss...
Now I know that conventional wisdom would say that Wilfredo Gomez is the greatest fighter to ever compete at that weight. I personally think that he would be a fine choice to hold that distinction and he certainly achieved enough to be crowned the 122 pound king. He was nearly a complete package...speed, devastating power in both hands, balance, technique, timing, intelligence, tenacity...
Mr. Morales is now at the end of his career and his accomplishments at Super Bantamweight were something to behold. It may be difficult to assess how spectacular he was fighting down there because he is just now coming off 3 ugly , ugly losses in a row and that is still fresh in the minds of boxing fans. When we look back on his career at lower weights though, I think he certainly has a case to be called one of the all-time great Super Bantamweight fighters...and possibly even the greatest of all-time (just to play devils advocate here). Now for a quick breakdown by way of gringo (comparison of Morales' career and Gomez' career).
-----------------------------------------------------------------
-Wilfredo Gomez' campaign at 122 pounds came out looking something like 38-0-1 (38).
-Gomez defended his WBC belt 17/18 times after beating Kun Yum for the title in 1977. I believe he stopped every one of his opponents during his title reign...among those wins were victories over the great Carlos Zarate and Lupe Pintor. Gomez also beat some other solid fighters in there like Royal Kobayashi and Juan Meza.
-In all he beat one official hall of fame fighter (Zarate) at Super Bantam (although Pintor was HOF caliber) and five(?) former titlists. Gomez fought them all...and even though he wasn't as successful at higher weights as he would have liked (one sided beating by Sanchez...bad knockout losses at the hands of Nelson and Layne) he was a three division champ. Gomez was just 5'5 but he knew how to fight big and had a left hook that could take his opponents head smooth off.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Erik Morales' Super Bantamweight reign lasted nearly 7 years with Morales going 36-0-0 (28).
-Morales won the WBC Super Bantamweight title from hall of fame champion Daniel Zaragoza in 1997, stopping him in the 11th round with a killer right hand to the solar plexus. Morales then went on to defend his title 9 times, while unifying the WBC belt with the WBO title when he won a split decision over Marco Antonio Barrera. Among the fighters he beat during his championship reign were *already noted* HOF enshrinee Daniel Zaragoza, soon to be HOF enshrinee Marco Antonio Barrera, and some other solid fighters like Wayne McCullough and Junior Jones.
-In all Morales beat one fighter already in the HOF, another who is a virtual lock for the HOF, and 6 former/current titlists at 122. He also fought anyone who was anyone at Super Bantam, cleaning out the best his division had to offer. Morales was also a very active champion...something to be respected by todays standards. At the end of his 122 pound reign he fought 5 times in one year! Morales was also the complete package. He could box/brawl, he had a wonderful jab when he used it, he had great timing and technique, he was very heavy handed, he had great size and knew how to use it, he had one of the best right hands in the biz, and he had a granite chin that never let him down. Morales was significantly more successful at higher weights than was Gomez, but that's to be thought of outside of their 122 pound careers.
Okay, so in closing after this long-winded analysis, does Morales have a case here? He has a pretty damned impressive resume, even if it doesn't quite stack up with Gomez' spectacular ledger. Discuss...
