Bulked-up Morales big favorite to take featherweight crown

Friday, Feb. 16, 2001 | 4:40 a.m.

LAS VEGAS - A heavier Erik Morales has become the heavy favorite to win the World Boxing Council featherweight championship Saturday - unusual because the other man in the ring holds the title.

Guty Espadas is the WBC's reigning champion at 126 pounds, but he's the decided underdog for the 12-round battle at the MGM Grand.

Espadas, 26, of Mexico City, is 33-2 with 21 knockouts and hasn't lost in five years.

Espadas won the vacant WBC featherweight belt with an 11th-round technical decision over Luisito Espinoza on April 14 in Merida, Mexico.

But bettors are favoring Espadas' countryman from Tijuana.

Morales, fresh off last year's disputed decision over Marco Antonio Barrera in Ring Magazine's "Fight of the Year" for 2000, is the 9-1 favorite.

Rarely is a reigning champion such a significant underdog.

"I'm going to answer all the questions on Saturday," Espadas said in response to being slighted by the bettors. "That's the people's choice. They can put their money on whoever they want."

Morales, 24, is 39-0 with 31 KOs and is a former WBC super bantamweight champion.

Morales gave up his World Boxing Council super bantamweight championship because he had trouble making the 122-pound limit. He said moving up to the featherweight division has made a tremendous difference.

Morales said he struggled to make weight in his last super bantamweight title fight a year ago in Las Vegas.

"It was almost like dying," Morales said. "It was very, very difficult. That was why I decided to change to 126 (pounds)."

"(Featherweight) is much better," he said. "I can stay at that weight without making a lot of effort."

Morales, who said he thought he could stay at featherweight two years, had been campaigning as a super bantamweight since turning pro in 1993.

Espadas is getting $200,000 for this fight, while the better-known Morales is to receive $400,000.

Also on the Top Rank card, James Page, 25-3, of Pittsburg, Calif., and Andrew "Six Heads" Lewis, 19-0-1, of Brooklyn will meet for the vacant World Boxing Association welterweight championship in the co-feature.

Page and Lewis will each receive $201,250 for a fight that initially had been scheduled for last August.

The five-fight card is scheduled to start at 6:15 p.m. in the MGM Conference Center. The MGM Grand Garden, which would normally serve as host, is being used for the Billy Joel and Elton John concert.