Source: ESTO (by way of BoxingScene.com)
Erik Morales, you may recall, was one of the boxing coalition against Oscar-Manny because of the fact that the fight was a joke and a farce and all that stuff. Oscar would behead Manny, who would get tired on account of being too small.
Now, like all that held that opinion (and I was one of them before coming around late in the game, admittedly), Morales thinks the fight was a farce because Oscar de la Hoya "didn't want to win" or whatever B.S. excuse people are making for Pacquiao overwhelming and dominating Oscar.
And since Morales has yet to find a topic in the last few months he doesn't want to weigh in on, he's talking Pacquiao-Hatton, and says it'll do great business and that he picks Hatton to win.
This is all OK as far as I'm concerned, and I know it might seem like I want to dump on Morales. I don't. He's Erik Morales, one of my favorite fighters, and considering he's been in the ring with Pacquiao and is the last guy to defeat him -- and the only guy to beat him after Pacquiao got out of boxing diapers, so to speak -- he obviously has some knowledge.
Still, I don't know that Erik appreciates how good Pacquiao has become, because when Manny started really finding his groove, it came against Morales, who started losing steps at the same time. Their second fight, Manny just wore him out and beat his legs. The third fight, he bombed him, and I'll never take anything away from Morales in either fight. Even clearly outgunned in that third fight, Morales stood in there and traded to the best of his remaining ability.
Here's a question, and I'm serious. Remember the third Pacquiao-Morales fight, on the final knockdown, Morales shook his head, almost cocked a half-smile, and decided he wasn't getting up and taking any more? Does that count as "going out on your shield" for you? We all will agree Oscar did not go out on his shield, but Morales essentially did the same thing. He was sitting up, he was aware of the situation, and he said, "Screw it, that's enough." I kind of want to give Erik shield credit for that one, but I think some might disagree.
Anyway, Morales is sort of turning into a neighborhood gossip, and I love it. I still hope he doesn't fight again.