BraggingRightsCorner.com - "A Preview of Morales vs Chavez"...by Kenny Perrault

JESUS CHAVEZ vs ERIK MORALES: A PREVIEW
By Kenny Perrault

When: February 28th, 2004

Where: MGM Grand Casino Resort Las Vegas, Nevada

The Main Event: Jesus Chavez vs Erik Morales

Champion: Jesus Chavez 40-2 (28 KOs) WBC Super featherweight champion.

Jesus last fought August 15th for the WBC super featherweight title against Sirimongkol Singmanassak. Jesus walked away with a unanimous decision and the WBC title. The fight against Morales will be his first defense of the title and he (Chavez) comes into the fight the underdog.
Jesus Chavez first fought for a title in 2001 against Floyd Mayweather. Chavez's corner stopped the bout at the end of the ninth round but Chavez gave a gutsy effort against the sometimes untouchable Mayweather. Chavez brings in a relentless style along with a great body attack that seems to take the steam out of his opponents as the fight progresses. Chavez is giving up a huge reach advantage to Morales so he'll have to bully his way inside and work the body of the taller Morales.
Chavez will also have to try to improve his defense and not take so many punches while he tries to work his way inside. Morales is known to cut so it's Chavez's job to cut him and work on it throughout the fight.
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Contender: Erik Morales 45-1 (34 KOs)
Morales is no stranger to world title fights, he's been in 14. Morales may be the contender in this fight but he won't be the underdog.
He last fought October 4th in a rematch against Guty Espadas. The first time these two fought Morales managed to walk away with a controversial decision but in the rematch the fight didn't need to go to the judges, Morales scored a thrid round knockout.
Morales will have a huge reach advantage so in this fight he'll have to use the jab and follow up with quick combinations to keep the relentless Chavez on the outside. Morales seems to tire late in fights and that is going to be Chavez best chance to hurt Morales.
Morales will have to come into this fight in top condition.
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Prediction: It's up to Morales to control the tempo of the fight. He should keep Chavez on the outside but that's easier said then done. This fight will be a war if Chavez gets inside and Morales lets him stay there. In the end I'm going to go with Morales by decision.

2-20-04