Third fight will have to wait a while

Dean Juipe

Monday, June 24, 2002 | 9:40 a.m.

Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales may fight again, but it won't be soon and it won't be until Morales meets Paulie Ayala.

Top Rank promoter Bob Arum said Sunday that he was forging ahead with a Morales vs. Ayala fight in November, and likely in Las Vegas.

Ayala will move up from 122 pounds to meet Morales at 126 and the World Boxing Council is apt to sanction the bout for its featherweight championship.

Morales was forced to surrender his WBC belt after dropping a disputed decision to Barrera Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden. Barrera, who is aligned with the lesser World Boxing Organization, did not pay a WBC sanctioning fee and was not entitled to receive its belt in spite of his victory over Morales.

"I'm going to put Morales with Ayala and I'm going to ask (WBC president) Jose (Sulaiman) to sanction it as a WBC title fight," Arum said. "I'm led to believe he'll do it, because I was told he was outraged by what happened at the MGM."

Arum was, too.

"The refereeing was the worst I've ever seen," he said, referring to Jay Nady. "He did a terrible job (and) I'd never approve him again for a big fight."

Arum's primary complaint with Nady was the result of a "no call" of sorts on a seventh-round incident in which Morales hit Barrera with a right to the body and Barrera went down. But Nady ruled that Morales was also standing on Barrera's foot at the time, and he said that is what caused the knockdown.

All three judges scored that round 10-9 for Barrera. Had Morales been credited with a knockdown and had the judges given him a 10-8 round, Morales would have won the fight; had the judges scored the round 10-9 for Morales it would have ended up as a majority draw.

Two judges scored the fight 115-113 for Barrera and the third had it 116-112 for Barrera.

"That knockdown that Nady didn't call was a three-point swing," Arum said. "It was the wrong call. Morales hit him with a good, good body shot and the man went down. It wasn't a slip or push or anything like that.

"If Nady calls that right, Morales wins the fight or at least gets a draw."

Arum put his dissatisfaction in perspective, however, saying "I can't really complain" because Top Rank had the right to refuse Nady's assignment as the referee. "I don't think Jay's dishonest or anything like that," Arum added, "but he missed the knockdown and he never did anything about Barrera's low blows, even though in the dressing room he said he would."

There were no official knockdowns or points deducted during the 12-round fight.

Arum erupted after the judges' verdict was announced and was involved in a commotion of sorts in the ring when a representative of the WBO offended him.

"The guy was celebrating and I asked him what the hell he was doing," Arum said. "A couple of our guys grabbed me and got between us. But nothing physical happened, or anything like that."

He said he's inclined to let Barrera, who is 55-3 and promoted by Forum Boxing, go his own way for a while.

"I'm not so anxious to do this again," Arum said of extending Barrera vs. Morales to a third fight, Morales having won their first bout two years ago. "Barrera's people want to come right back and fight again and maybe it'll happen, but I'm not thrilled with doing it immediately."

He said he would put Morales, 41-1, in with Ayala, 34-1, on a card that would also include the WBC's mandatory featherweight challenger, Juan Manuel Marquez, vs. Injin Chi. The winners of those two fights would later square off, with that winner positioned to face Barrera later next year.