This one isn't a highlight reel-type knockout, but it's an interesting one nonetheless.
This was the fourth time that "El Terrible" put Velardez on the mat in this fight, at 1:02 of the fifth round. It was an utter massacre, a one-sided beatdown from a truly great fighter to a smack-talking, arrogant chump of a fighter.
See, people still talk about this as though Morales' showboating over Velardez after the fight was "classless," which is a word I generally detest and gets thrown around far too often. The things to consider:
1. Morales was avenging his brother, Diego, who had lost on a disqualification to Velardez a year before this fight. Diego Morales smoked Verlardez and knocked him down four times himself. The DQ came about because a member of Diego's corner entered the ring before the end of the round. Diego never complained, really; he said there are rules, they have to be followed, and that "these things happen in boxing."
2. Velardez is a native of San Bernadino, CA, and very unwisely disrespected Morales' hometown of Tijuana, saying things like he didn't want to speak to anyone there out of fear of catching a disease. If you know anything about Erik Morales, you know how much he loves his hometown.
You don't tug on Superman's cape, you don't spit into the wind, and you don't shit talk the people of Tijuana if you're about to fight someone as good as Erik Morales was in 2003.
Velardez was a jerk with a pumped-up record, and hasn't fought since 2004, after two unimpressive KO wins over marginal (at best) opposition following the Morales slaughter job.
In short, you can make a very good argument that all Erik Morales did was make Bobby Boy eat his words via two fists from Tijuana.