Morales outguts Hernandez in a twelve round war, unifies the WBC / IBF Superfeather belts.
HBO / TOP RANK PPV results from the MGM GRAND, Las Vegas, NV. - 7-31-04.
By Daniel Ceballos and German Villasenor at ringside.
All Photo- German Villasenor.
Morales - Hernandez, was guaranteed by promoter Bob Arum to be the fight of the year, if it's not so far, it certainly will be a shoe-in come year's end. And how could it not? despite the three time world champion and current WBC Superfeatherweight champion in Morales and his technical progress, the Tijuana resident has always been drawn into a firefight vs boxers, but mainly vs face first, pressure fighters.
Enter
the Salvadorian/American Carlos ''Famoso'' Hernandez, the IBF
Superfeatherweight kingpin, the definition of a pressure/inside fighter
with a good right hand and virtually no jab to speak-off, that is certainly
the recipe for an all out war.
And it delivered.
From
the onset, Hernandez came in head first, coming dangerously close to
causing damage everytime with his head unto Morales face, hands let
go trying his best to pin Morales agaisnt the ropes where he could do
some damage. Morales would take a good shot by Hernandez, and quickly
spin out of trouble, using a long range jab to set up jarring right
hand uppercuts and overhand right hands.
Near the end of the round a hard shot nearly buckles Hernandez legs,
and almost out through the ropes.
Boxing in the center of the right, Morales controlled the action, playing the matador to the bull like Hernadez aggression with both men goofing off, and showboating in the second round, as if to intimidate each other.
Hernandez has a good third round as he pressures his way inside, with Morales spinning off the ropes, taking side to side steps and landing clean shots left and right, Hernandez comes back with everything but the kithchen sink, with both fighters battling it out toe to toe, although Hernandez ends the round appliying the heavy pressure.
In the 4th round Hernandez gets sent to the corner & gets a warning for a head butt, Hernandez throws a glancing over the top right that cuts Moraleses right eye brow.
Hernandez gets a warning for holding Morales head, with both fighters putting on a good show,. this is no walk in the park for either fighter.
Morales left eye starts to swell , although Morales is still looking stronger and and landing the cleaner punches in the firefight.
A fabulous flurry of punches landed first from Hernandez on the ropes, then Morales turns him around and does the same puts Hernandez on the ropes and lands his own flurry to highlight the seventh round.
Hernandez puts a great effort into round nine and could of taken it with a late flurry at rounds end.
The next two round feature give and take exchanges which could swing the bout either way.
A headbutt in the 11th round causes a cut to Morales right eye, with a no holding warning goes to Morales, both fighter seemingly in a a pretty even fight thus far.
Both fighters graciusly embrace each other entering the twelve round, ackowledging each others near, superhuman effort, with many in the audience and ringside giving a standing up ovation for both fighters.
As expected both warriors don't leave anything behind trying to finish strong and securing their place in the final decision.
Scores:
119-109, 119-109, and 115-113 all in Morales favour, although the first
two scorecards were ridiculously scored apart for Hernandez.
After the fight, Morales and Herandez showed mutual respect, with Herandez breaking down in emotion, as he cried telling the media that he hoped they all realised that although he is the most skilled fighter, he always fights with everything he has.
You always did and do Carlos, no shame in anything you have ever done champion.
Morales joked that he alwasy seems to come out busted up (sporting the two cuts over both eyes) saying that maybe it is cause he has a girl's skin.
Right Erik, right....
Bob Arum was given a potential match-up, with which he ran off right away, and it does seem a natural choice, pit Jesus Chavez, to who Morales beat for the WBC title, vs Hernandez, with the victor getting a second crack at ''El Terrible'' donw the line in what figures to be yet another PPV war.
Marquez blasts Ruiz in three.
In a surprisingly easy defense by the world / IBF Bantamweight champion,
the Mexican Rafael Marquez took on the #1 challenger in the tough
and cagey Heriberto Ruiz in what was largely a 2 round feeling
out process which had most fans booing and asking for more action.
Action, and a brutal KO they received, as Ruiz attempted a left hook downstairs which was partially blocked, and a wicked right hand uppercut by Marquez crushing unto Ruiz chin violently, effectively frezzing Ruiz, and falling face first, out cold with the ref stopping the fight immediately in the third round.
The
fight was expected to be one of Marquez stiffest tests, as Ruiz was
no pushover and is a world class fighter himself having gone undefeated
since 2002, and defeating Carlos Contreras, Chapo Vargas, the undefeated
and Olympian Vinson Clarence to earn his title shot.
Marquez and his trainer Nacho Beristain, stated after the fight that
they would be ready to challnge his WBC Couterpart in the long reigning
Thai champion Veraprom Sahaprom, and expected his promoter Bob Arum
to up the champion's pay as Marquez has cleary provn to be the best
Banty in the world.
Should they defeat the Thai fighter, the plan will be to move up in weight to the 122 ranks to look for bigger fights and corresponding pay days.
Calderon holds off ''Mako's'' attack; retains title.
In a very unpopular decision, the WBO minimum weight Puerto Rican
Ivan ''Iron Boy'' Calderon faced off, and retained his title vs
a determined former IBF minimum weight champion in Ensenada's Roberto
''Mako'' Leyva in a surprisingly entertaining battle between fellow
southpaws.
As much as wanted too, Calderon could not overcome the overbearing pressure attack from Leyva, and do as he usually does in most his fights, outclass, outbox and frustrate his opponents.
The taller, rangier and more powerful Leyva did a very good job cutting off the ring, letting his powershots go, and cracking the near 30 Calderon (who looks to be about 12 years old) enough to send him into full counterpunching, near running mode.
Calderon was cracked hard with an uppercut in the fifth round which made the champion start holding on the inside to muffle Leyva's shots, with varying degrees of success from the middle rounds on.
Calderon received a stern warning as he low blowed Leyva in the eight round, forcing the challenger to take a few minutes off combat to re group himself.
Calderon came back with some effective pot shotting and side to side movement to win the last 3 rounds cleanly.
Although most of the effective work was done largely by the challenger, the judges saw it otherwise, handing out a decision with scores of
The largely pro-Mexican crowd at hand made their disgust known as the Caderon was for all intentents and purposes booed out of the ring, as Leyva ran from ring pot, to ring post in a victory salute to his fans.
Chavez Jr. batters Smith through four.
In the first bout of the PPV telecast, the son of the boxing legend,
Julio Cesar Chavez, in the lanky 18 year old Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.
Battered Jason Smith (busting up Smith's whole face up) a very
game but overmatched, and underpowered Smith mercilessly through a bloody
four round Superfeatherweight bout.
The fight was so one sided, that most observers agreed the fight should have been called off in the third round, after Chavez left Smith with his back turned to him and hanging off the middle rope defenseless.
Peden decisions Cordova in eight.
On the untelevised undercard, the NABF Superfeatherweight champion, and now IBF Superfeatherweight mandatory, the Aussie Robbie ''The Bomber'' Peden won an eight round decision over the awkward Armando ''el policia'' Cordova.
Kid Diamond explodes all over Fuentes in one.
The explosive and undefeated Kid Diamond 17-08 ko's (formerly
known as Almazbek Raimkulov, but know going strictly under the kid Diamond
monicker, as his name is too hard for many to pronounce) dropped Ricardo
Fuentes down twice in round one with the ref calling the fight off
at 1:59 of the round.
Fuentes was overwelmed by the hard punches that kid was landing, with
no chance to fight back.
HBO and Arum stated they were exptremely happy with the near sell-out 8,700 fans in attendance. The MGM arena had been configured to hold 9000 fans.
Arum also expected (s) healthy PPV sells.
2003 boxingladiators.com