Erik Morales fought some large punchers throughout his illustrious profession.
Maybe none extra so than Manny Pacquiao, whom he locked horns with thrice.
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The Filipino icon carried his energy via the weights, knocking out adversaries from flyweight all the best way as much as tremendous welterweight and famously rebounded from a unanimous determination loss to Morales in 2005 to cease him in back-to-back bouts.
Regardless of this, Morales does not hail Pacquiao as his hardest-hitting opponent.
As an alternative, the Corridor of Famer reserves that distinction for Junior ‘Poison’ Jones.
“I actually felt it when he linked,” Morales stated of Jones’ energy throughout a Ring Journal ‘Finest I Confronted’ section.
“I keep in mind freezing for a second within the second spherical of our battle when he caught me with a proper hand.”
Morales squared off in opposition to Jones in 1998 in a defence of his WBC tremendous bantamweight crown on the Bullring by the Sea in Tijuana, Mexico.
Jones had dropped his WBO tremendous bantamweight title in his earlier outing in opposition to Kennedy McKinney and entered battle evening with a degree to show.
The American got here flying out of the gates, seeking to impose himself on the competition instantly.
Early within the second stanza, he buckled Morales’ knees with a stiff proper hand and continued to pour on the stress.
The then-unbeaten Morales was nonetheless taking heavy artillery within the fourth spherical when he turned the tide with a looping proper.
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Morales’ punch scrambled Jones’ senses and despatched him tumbling to the canvas after a follow-up flurry.
Jones bravely made his means again to his ft, however he was blasted away in opposition to the ropes with seconds left within the spherical.
The loss prompted Jones to maneuver as much as featherweight, the place he did not win the IBF belt in opposition to Paul Ingle in 2000. Jones hung up his gloves two years later as a two-weight world champion.
Morales boxed on to unify his WBC 122lbs with the WBO strap by overcoming Marco Antonio Barrera by way of cut up determination in 2000.
Nevertheless, his compatriot exacted his revenge in a rematch at featherweight.
Within the previous years, Morales turned the primary Mexican to win world titles in 4 separate weight courses from tremendous bantamweight to tremendous light-weight, buying and selling wins and losses with the divisional elites.
He ultimately retired from boxing in 2012 following a pair of losses to Danny Garcia and was inducted into the Worldwide Boxing Corridor of Fame six years later.