TIJUANA – One of the city's sports legends was booed Saturday night despite winning his 57th fight, which marked his return to a hometown ring after a 10-year absence.

Érik Terrible Morales defeated Dominican boxer Francisco Lorenzo by unanimous decision in a match that only had flashes of emotion and ended up feeling boring and extremely long.

Despite the cold and a threat of rain, some 12,000 fans flocked to Caliente Stadium, the largest turnout for a boxing match this year.

From the first round, Morales's punches seemed to miss, and, strangely, he let Lorenzo, 39, have his way.

He couldn't stop Lorenzo's trick jabs, head butts and blows to the back of the head.

In the fifth round, Morales connected a series of blows which he punctuated with left jab that felled Lorenzo, drawing the pubic to their feet.

The emotion, however, lasted little, since Lorenzo recovered and continued the match. Morales responded by fighting at a half-distance, throwing jabs that he finished with uppercuts. But he couldn't muster the speed he once had nor string together his legendary series of punches.

No, the Tijuana native still seemed far from being the fighter he once was, the boxer who thrilled this city and the rest of Mexico with his fights against Marco Antonio Barrera and Manny Pacquiao and who won three world titles in different divisions.

In the 12th and final round, Morales ((51-5-35 knockouts) finished without throwing punches, before Lorenzo (35-9-16 knockouts) who had used all of his repertoire, also without much accuracy.

The judges' scoring, all in favor of Morales, was 116-111, 114-113 and 115-112, which unleashed strident boos from the fans.

The victory means Morales will keep his silver WBC title in the super lightweight class (140 pounds).

"El Terrible", as he is known here, had not boxed in Tijuana since Dec. 9, 2001, and when, curiously, he also was booed by the fans after knocking out American boxer Rodney Jones at the jammed Municipal Auditorium.

Morales retired in September of 2007, after losing in Chicago. He now has won three straight fights since returning to the ring in March.

According to Érik Gómez, vice president of Golden Boy Promotions, Morales's next fight could come next summer against Juan Manuel Márquez, the current lightweight champion of the WBA and the WBO and considered currently the best Mexican boxer.

Márquez also wants to fight Morales, so a fight between them seems possible sometime next year.

"Undoubtedly, it will be an immediate classic," Gómez predicted.

Omar.millan@sandiegored.com