Boxing: Juan Manuel Marquez vs. Erik Morales

By Jason Kim: A fight between WBO light welterweight interim champion Juan Manuel Marquez (54-6-1, 39 KO’s) and Erik Morales (52-8, 36 KO’s) is in play for July 14th at the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. According to RingTV, the fight is being negotiated at this time.Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy Promotions told RingTV “July 14th, that’s the date that Top Rank is looking at for Marquez, so we’ll see. Hopefully we can get that done with Morales.” Marquez has been cool to the idea of fighting Morales recently, because he doesn’t see any real plus in taking on a guy he feels he will definitely beat. Marquez has been more focused on going after the more relevant fighters. If Morales does get the fight it’s going to be an interesting fight because both fighters still have a lot left in the tank, in particular Marquez. Morales also is still fighting at a high level, but he did lose his last fight in February to Danny Garcia. Before the fight, Morales lost his WBC light welterweight title when he failed to make weight. Marquez is coming off of a 12 round unanimous decision over Sergiy Fedchenko last month in an impressive win for the interim World Boxing Organization 140 pound title. Morales, 35, was beaten by Danny Garcia by a 12 round decision by the scores of 117-110, 116-112 and 118-108. The fight appeared closer than the scores would suggest, but it’s clear that Morales did lose that fight as he didn’t let his hands go nearly enough and he looked very stiff in his upper-body. A fight between Morales and Marquez will draw a lot of Mexicans from around Texas to see them. It’s a brilliant move by Bob Arum if he can get this fight put together because it’s one where his fighter Marquez has an excellent chance of winning it as long as he doesn’t suffer any injuries.