I’m sorry Erik Morales. I was wrong.
I didn’t think you had much left after after your many ring wars including legendary trilogies with Marco Antonio Barrera and Manny Pacquiao. I thought at the age of 34, you had physically given boxing everything your body could muster. But you proved me wrong.
I thought you were insane when you asked to fight the young monster of a slugger, Marcos Maidana, a guy who absorbed a liver punch from Amir Khan and got up to lay some serious wood on Khan. I was afraid for your health. But you proved me wrong.
I thought the fight was over after the first round when your right eye started to close after absorbing one of Maidana’s shots. I thought either you were going to pack it in, or Maidana was going to clock you out. But you proved me wrong.
Fighting with only one eye, a heart overflowing with dignity and a brain that’s forgotten more boxing than most fighters will ever know, you stood up to a younger, bigger, stronger man who has beaten, younger, bigger, stronger fighters. Though yours was not the hand raised at the end of the fight, you have nothing to be ashamed of because you have nothing to prove to anybody. Erik Morales, you are a great warrior and a special fighter.
Thank you El Terrible.