AYALA STANDS IN THE WAY OF MORALES vs. BARRERA III
By Ron Brashear
Inside Boxing Writer/Columnist
Inside Boxing file photo:Morales
INSIDE BOXING (11/09/2002) - On Saturday
night, 11/16/02, at Mandalay Bay,
live from Las Vegas, Erik Morales (41-1, 31 KOs), will take on Paulie Ayala
(34-1, 12 KOs) for the vacant WBC World Featherweight Title in what should be
validation fight #2 to determine who are the best Featherweight fighters in the
world today. On November 2nd, we witnessed validation fight #1, Barrera vs.
Tapia, which showed us
that one of the best is certainly Barrera.
Let's face it, we couldn't expect to see Morales vs. Barrera III without interim bouts to validate for us that these two fighters are the cream of the crop in their division.
Well now the time has come for Morales to mimic just what Barrera did earlier this month. Dominate their opponent and set up the trilogy that all of the boxing world has been anticipating.
While I do expect Ayala to put up a formidable attempt to challenge Morales, I seriously doubt he will experience much success in his efforts. Its not so much that he doesn't possess the talent to compete at this level, its just that Erik Morales is the better fighter at this weight class. He has one loss, and that one loss can be forever disputed. If Barrera could not clearly defeat this man, its hard to imagine that Ayala will be able to do so.
Granted Ayala showcased his worthiness by handing Tapia a pair of defeats. However, I'm not convinced that coming off his last two decision victories over Clarence "Bones" Adams positions him favorably to withstand the punches he will be receiving from Morales.
If these two fighters adhere to the theme "NEVER SURRENDER", its highly unlikely this fight will go to the scorecards.
Expect to see a stoppage by a hungry Morales who has revenge on his mind to get Barrera back into the ring.
As you know in boxing, anything can happen, but don't expect too many surprises in this fight. I could be wrong here, but I am going out on a limb. Morales by TKO…
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Ron Brashear can be contacted at brashear@insideboxing.com, ron@brasheargear.com