There are fights in which the effort of the
loser is the one we remember more than that of the winner. Such was the case
when Jesus Chavez, fighting with one good arm for the last 10 rounds against
Erik Morales, suffered a defeat that was glorious in terms of tenacity and
courage at the MGM Grand casino resort in Las Vegas on 28 February.
There was no question that Morales deserved the
unanimous decision, joining Julio Cesar Chavez (no relation to Jesus) as
Mexico's second world champion in three weight divisions as he captured the
World Boxing Council's super featherweight title. But there were many at
ringside who believed it could have been a different story had Chavez not torn
the rotator cuff in his right shoulder, an injury that the defending champ
believed he suffered in the first round.
Morales, previously a WBC champ in the super
bantam and featherweight classes, was game, too, fighting through the pain of
bruised and swollen hands (the left was in particularly bad shape). But Chavez
had the sort of handicap that, against a challenger as formidable as "El
Terrible", was virtually insurmountable. Yet he waded in, round after round,
pounding Morales's body with left hooks in a stirring display of fighting
spirit. The bout's billing of "Brave Warriors Collide" couldn't have been more
appropriate. Morales looked worn and weary at the end, his right eye bruised and
swollen from above although a cut over the eye suffered in the fourth round was
kept under control by cornerman Miguel Diaz.
Chavez was cut, too, although in his case it
was more of a nick, over the left eye, a trifle compared to the shoulder injury.
His diehard display made us realise once again what special people fighters are
and the ordeals they sometimes go through. I do not think the thought of
quitting ever crossed Chavez's mind. There are degrees of pain and suffering and
circumstances are not always the same, but great world champions Willie Pep and
Marcel Cerdan retired in their corners when each suffered a shoulder injury
against, respectively, Jake La Motta and Sandy Saddler.
The most famous defeat attributed to a shoulder
problem was perhaps when Sonny Liston quit on his stool after six rounds against
the then Cassius Clay 40 years ago although the reality here was probably that a
tiring Liston was looking for a way out. Heavyweight Tyrell Biggs fought with a
broken right collarbone for eight rounds and jabbed and hooked his way to a
unanimous decision over heavy-handed Jeff Sims 18 years ago. More recently, in
London, heavyweight Danny Williams, his right arm dangling by his side after his
shoulder went out, blasted Mark Potter with a left hook.
Evander Holyfield fought to the bitter end with
a seriously compromised shoulder against Chris Byrd -but Vitali Klitschko
surrendered in the corner when the rotator cuff in his left shoulder was torn vs
Byrd, a fight that the Ukrainian was winning comfortably on the cards. Only the
fighter knows how much he is suffering in these situations. But Chavez was so
strong-willed it was as if nothing was going to stop him from fighting through
to the bitter end. The astonishing thing about Chavez's showing was that despite
having to rely exclusively on left jabs and hooks he was able to stay very much
in the fight against someone as good as Morales. Even though judges Burt
Clements of Reno, Nevada and Daniel van de Wiele of Belgium scored widely in
favour of Morales -118-108 and 117-109 respectively -the fact is that there were
a lot of close rounds and many at ringside thought that the 115-112 score of
British judge John Keane might have more accurately reflected the fight we had
seen.
Chavez not only fought with one good arm, he
also survived a very shaky second round when he was dropped twice in the only
knockdowns of the contest. But he actually seemed the stronger man in rounds 10
and 11, although Morales sucked it up to outpunch him in the 12th. Would Chavez
have won had he been able to fight without injury? That's one of those things we
will never know. But if a one-handed Chavez gave Morales this much trouble, it
makes you wonder. Say this for Morales, though.
The 27-year-old from Tijuana has always been
the type of warrior who reaches within himself and does whatever has to be done
and endures what has to be endured to win fights -and he has been in some tough
ones. He might not have expected quite such a gruelling encounter with Chavez,
31, the Mexican-born resident of Austin, the Texas capital, and in truth he
seemed a little too confident, almost cocksure, coming in to the fight.
But Morales knew he was not going to have an
easy night when he got wobbled in the first round. Briefly, a stunning upset
looked distinctly possible with the fight only just getting started. A great
roar erupted from the crowd of 8,094 as an overhand right from Chavez followed
by a left hook had Morales sagging against the ropes -the champion wasn't
supposed to be all that hard a puncher. It says a lot for Morales, though, that
he was able to come back, throwing bad-intention punches with both hands to make
the first round competitive. And it is the ability to come back firing just when
it looks as if he might be in trouble that is perhaps Morales's most striking
and impressive quality.
It served him well again in this fight. Then we
had the spectacular second round, when a right uppercut sent Chavez down on the
seat of his trunks, while later in the round a barrage of punches seemed to
overwhelm him as he went down again, face-first this time. But Chavez got to one
knee, nodded to his corner that all was well, and fought back after the eight
count. Chavez had promised an in-your-face, constant pressure type of fight and
he was doing his best to deliver it, driving forward again in the third with
such gusto that one would never have thought he had been dropped twice in the
preceding round. But I noticed Chavez was starting to shake out his right arm,
an indication that something was wrong.
And so the battle raged, every round hard
fought, with Morales landing the clearer, more powerful punches -the right
hands, left hooks and uppercuts from both sides -while Chavez did his best to
crowd him and dig the left hook underneath. Morales said afterwards that he had
not been aware that Chavez was injured and to be frank I had not realised myself
until the seventh round that there was a problem. In this round I thought for a
moment Chavez might be getting discouraged as he backed up and turned away, and
between rounds his corner seemed to be applying an ice bag to his shoulder.
Discouraged? Not Chavez. He practically threw himself back into the attack in
the eighth, although I noted that he was "fighting essentially one-handed". A
left hook upstairs in this round had Morales dropping his hands in a mocking,
"That didn't hurt me" manner, which meant he had definitely felt the punch.
Morales came back in the ninth, but the gruelling pace seemed to be telling on
him a bit. He landed some heavy hits but Chavez kept steaming forward. And in
the 10th Chavez finally threw a right hand again -and landed it.
But it was Morales who finished the stronger,
sweeping the 12th on the scorecards after four consecutive rounds in which the
judges had been divided. Despite the one-sided scores on two cards it had been a
memorable contest, with scarcely any let up. Morales was in control when he was
able to stand off and fire his big guns but Chavez did well when he got his man
on the ropes and ripped away with the hooks. But Morales fought well with his
back to the ropes and occasionally showed his ringcraft by pivoting away to
create more room in which to level off his shots. But after the second round
Chavez never looked like going on the floor again. There will no doubt be a lot
of sympathy for Chavez's belief that he would have won the fight if he had not
been injured.
He went to hospital afterwards to have his
shoulder x-rayed. Morales, dark glasses covering his bruised and swollen eyes,
told the press conference afterwards, through an interpreter, that his corner
had wanted him to use his boxing ability but that "when someone is coming at you
and keeps coming and coming you need to stop in front of him and show him who is
the main man".
Still, one has to wonder if Morales, who
brought his record to 46 wins in 47 fights, with 34 opponents halted, is going
to be a dominant force at 130lbs (9st 4lbs). I think he would start the underdog
against Diego "Chico" Corrales, an impressive winner over Joel Casamayor the
following weekend (reported on page 52 of this issue), if the fight could ever
be made. Next up for Morales will be a unification title bout with El Salvador's
Los Angeles-based Carlos "Famoso" Hernandez, the IBF champion, in the summer. "I
had a dream and I see the starry skies of Los Angeles and a big outdoor fight,"
promoter Bob Arum said afterwards. As always when Morales is in the ring, the
fans can be assured that he will give his all -and find a little bit more to
give if that's what he has to do. He seems to have a genuine concern that fans
gets their money's worth and said afterwards that he was glad he didn't win in
the second round because "the people enjoyed a great fight". He added: "Once
again, when the Mexican and Latin fighters fight each other, it's real dynamite.
Mexican and Latin fighters, we always give something that we don't even know we
have, something extra that's inside us." Certainly, at least as far as he and
Jesus Chavez are concerned, truer words were never spoken. For additional
coverage, see April issue
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