Morales expected to unseat featherweigt champ Feb. 17

Dean Juipe

Thursday, Feb. 8, 2001 | 10:33 a.m.

It's a coincidence, of course, but the last two men who trained at the Prince Ranch lodge on the lower edge of Mount Charleston were devastatingly ineffective when it came time to fight.

Ranch hand David Tua was overwhelmed by Lennox Lewis in November, and, last month, Diego Corrales was destroyed by Floyd Mayweather Jr.

But looking to buck the trend and upgrade the facility's sagging reputation is Erik Morales, a young man with tremendous ability who is angling to become one of the sport's most prominent stars. He's fighting World Boxing Council featherweight champion Guty Espadas Feb. 17 at the MGM, and fans and bettors alike expect him to be victorious.

"Training is training," Morales said Wednesday through an interpreter, dismissing the notion that the Prince Ranch and its temporary tenants are somehow jinxed. "(The isolation) is different but it's good to know new places and good to change. There are good things and bad things with each camp."

Looking fit and declining lunch in order to stay within hailing distance of making weight, Morales would seem likely to add Espadas to his list of conquests. At the MGM sports book he is now a minus 450 favorite (after opening at minus 420), while the caretaker of the WBC crown, Espadas, is a plus 350 (after opening at plus 330).

They're scheduled for 12 rounds at 126 pounds and will top a five-bout card promoted by Top Rank. The companion main event has James Page and Andrew Lewis battling for the vacant World Boxing Association welterweight title that belonged to Lewis until he was stripped of it for failing to meet Lewis as scheduled last summer.

Morales, a former WBC champ at 122 pounds, said he weighs 128 right now.

"I'm running to the mountains," he said, "and doing aerobics. My training is going very good."

At a mere 24 years old he's 39-0 with 31 knockouts in a pro career that dates from 1993.

"I'm enjoying it a lot," he said of seeing his career develop exactly as his handlers had planned. "I'm happy."

He already has a wealth of big-time experience, having beaten Daniel Zaragoza (for the WBC super bantamweight title) and then winning title defenses against Junior Jones, Wayne McCullough, Marco Antonio Barrera and Kevin Kelley (plus six others).

His decision win over Barrera a year ago at Mandalay Bay won any number of Fight of the Year awards and solidified his position as a budding star. It was a close bout, to be sure, yet Morales prevailed in spite of pushing himself to make the 122-pound limit.

"I was almost dying," he said of lopping off the pounds. "I was very weak. It was the worst point of my career."

He said he'll be comfortable at 126 although he is just passing through the featherweight division.

"It's absolutely (easier)," he said of moving up a division and having an additional four pounds to work with. As for how long he'll stay there before joining the more elite junior lightweight division, Morales said "a year, maybe two."

Assuming he wins against Espadas, ahead for Morales is a mandatory defense with Korea's In-Jin Chi and, perhaps in September, a potentially memorable fight with Naseem Hamed.

The latter, coincidentally, is fighting Barrera April 7 at the MGM.

"I'm not worried about it," Morales said of the possibility of Barrera upsetting Hamed. "It's good for me either way."

He'd fight Barrera again under the right circumstances, but it's a fight with Hamed that really stirs his interest.

"It's a lot of money," he said, getting his priorities in order. "He's a great boxer but people want to see someone beat him, and I can do it. He doesn't have a chin."

But, first things first and Morales has to get past Espadas, an improving fighter who is 33-2 with 21 knockouts. His only two setbacks came in 1996 fights with Daryl Pinckney and Jesus Salud.

"He's never had very strong opposition," Morales said of the 26-year-old Espadas. "He doesn't have enough experience. I believe he has never felt the pressure of a big fight and, on top of that, I am better. I believe I will win."

Espadas emerged with the WBC title by virtue of handling Luisito Espinoza when the championship was vacant last April. Espadas has since won another fight, albeit against the unfamiliar Kumanpetch Kiatvoraphong of Thailand.

"Well, he's the champion," Morales said with a smile overtaking his face, when asked if he agreed with the premise that Espadas was just filling in as the titleholder until someone better came along. A little later, however, he added a telltale addendum.

"He's the champion," Morales said. "But he's not good enough."

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