TIJUANA Érik Morales has spared no words to attack his rivals during his17-year boxing career.
A la Muhammad Ali, the Tijuana native delivered poisonous verbal punches against his ring enemies, especially Marco Antonio Barrera.
He even turned against his father and trainer, José Morales, as well as Óscar de la Hoya, promoters Don King and Ignacio Huizar, and many promising prospects from Tijuana.
True to his nature, Morales is using the occasion of his next fight Dec. 18 in Tijuana to trash the current Mexican lightweight champions: Humberto Zorrita Soto and Juan Manuel Márquez, whom he called "divas without a public".
He also threw a verbal jabs against his former friend and ex promoter Fernando Beltrán, who he claimed was more interested in making money than in his boxers.
In a recent phone interview from Toluca, Mexico, where he was training, Morales said that he still has a lot to do in the world of boxing.
This Saturday, Morales (50-8-16 knockouts) will square off against the Dominican Francisco Lorenzo (35-4-1-35 knockouts) at Estadio Caliente. The fight will be his third since he retired three years ago.
The match is scheduled for 12 rounds and will be in the super lightweight class (140 pounds) for the silver WBC title.
A win would set up Morales's quest for a fourth world title, against Márquez, if the latter agrees.
Morales left boxing after losing to David Díaz in September of 2007. The then mayor of Tijuana, Jorge Ramos, made him the director of the Municipal Sports Institute, which directs the city's sports programming. He held that post for a little more than a year, but could not shake his former career.
"I'm returning to boxing because it's my passion," he said at the end of 2009, but his comeback seemed unlikely.
He weighed more than 200 pounds, was 34 years old, and had left Top Rank and his promoter Beltrán. What's more, the boxing scene had changed dramatically.
Beltrán was now backing Marco Antonio Barrera, one of Morales's bitter rivals.
Boxing had become a kind of reality show and Manny Pacquiao, whom he once beat, was pound for pound the best in the world.
Further, Márquez and Soto, who had asked for a chance to fight Morales when he was the top Mexican boxer, had become the bosses Mexican boxing.
"They were not known at that time and fighting them was not convenient for me, that's why I didn't fight against them," he said. "What's more, they still need me more than I need them."
Morales surprised many by returning to the boxing ring last March in Monterrey, knocking out José Alfaro. He also came out on top in October against Willie Lemond in Mexico City.
That's the context of the match between Morales and Lorenzo, 39, who has lost four of his last seven fights and should be easy work for the Tijuana native.
"In my two previous bouts I was 70 or 75 percent the boxer I used to be," said Morales. "Now I feel at 100 percent. People will be able to see that."
[sidebar]Live and on TV
The boxing event in Tijuana on Dec. 18 begins at 5 p.m. in Estadio Caliente.
The event will be shown on Pay Per View in the United States.
Nine fights are scheduled, three of them for championships.
A total of 21,000 tickets will be for sale, ranging from $8 to $208.
Information in available at www.moralesbarrios.com or by phoning (from the U.S.)
011-52-664-104-1766.
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