Danny Garcia vs Erik Morales 2

A single left hook ended a rematch that had remained in doubt until fight day. The punch turned Erik Morales around and left him across the bottom rope, bringing Danny Garcia victory after one minute and 23 seconds of the fourth round at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on 20 October 2012. Garcia retained his WBC and WBA Super Light-Welterweight championships, together with The Ring’s recognition, in the main event of the arena’s first boxing programme. Golden Boy Promotions announced an attendance of 11,112. Although Morales had completed twelve rounds in their first meeting, the return ended with the younger champion firmly in command.

Garcia, 24, entered with 24 victories, including 15 stoppages, while the 36-year-old Morales stood at 52 wins and eight defeats, with 36 knockout victories. Their first contest, at Houston’s Reliant Arena on 24 March, had brought Garcia the vacant WBC championship. Morales had forfeited the belt on the scales after weighing two pounds above the limit. He nevertheless gave Garcia a demanding fight, damaging his nose before suffering an eleventh-round knockdown and losing unanimously. Garcia subsequently stopped Amir Khan in four rounds in Las Vegas on 14 July, adding the WBA championship and establishing himself at the head of the division. Morales had not fought between the two Garcia contests.

The preparations for the rematch were overshadowed by Morales’s positive tests for clenbuterol. Samples collected by the United States Anti-Doping Agency at his Mexican training camp on 4 and 10 October had returned positive findings. Morales attributed them to contaminated meat. A later test was reported negative, and the New York State Athletic Commission permitted him to box while continuing its investigation. Garcia’s camp considered withdrawing before deciding to proceed. Both fighters made the contracted weight, but the testing dispute remained unresolved when they entered the ring. The commission’s permission to fight did not amount to a finding that the earlier positive results were invalid.

The first round began cautiously, with the more substantial exchanges coming during its final minute. Morales retained enough timing to land against Garcia and stood his ground when the champion answered. Garcia began establishing his jab and directing punches towards the body. Between rounds, his father and trainer, Angel Garcia, reinforced the instruction to attack downstairs. Morales started the second positively and finished it with further resistance, but Garcia imposed himself during the intervening exchanges, landing hard punches when he backed the challenger towards the ropes. Morales could still find openings, yet his replies did not check the champion’s advance for long.

Garcia’s jab became more effective in the third. It occupied Morales’s guard and helped the champion bring his heavier punches into play. The challenger answered hooks and crosses with power punches of his own, but Garcia was landing more frequently and with greater effect. Late in the round, a right-hand counter caught Morales cleanly. Another right, delivered behind two jabs in the closing moments, buckled his legs. He remained upright, so no knockdown was recorded, but the bell arrived with him visibly hurt. Morales initially walked towards the wrong corner before finding his own and receiving treatment during the interval.

The fourth provided no sustained recovery. Garcia advanced without rushing and landed the decisive left hook flush on Morales’s chin. The challenger spun around and fell against the lower ropes, partly outside the ring. His father and trainer, José Morales, immediately entered, and referee Benjy Esteves Jr. stopped the contest without completing a count. BoxRec records the result as a knockout at 1:23. Through the three completed rounds, judges Steve Weisfeld, Max DeLuca and Tom Schreck had each scored 30-27 for Garcia. CompuBox recorded the champion landing 57 of 220 punches against Morales’s 40 of 124; Garcia’s advantage was particularly marked in power punches, with 47 landed to 23.

Garcia improved to 25-0, with 16 victories inside the distance. Morales’s record fell to 52-9, and the defeat proved to be his final professional appearance. Immediately afterwards, he said he would not fight again in the United States, although he still contemplated a farewell contest in Tijuana. The rematch had shown a wider physical separation than their first encounter: Morales remained willing to exchange, but Garcia’s body attack, increasing accuracy and heavier punches, progressively reduced his resistance. The right hand at the end of the third exposed his condition; the left hook in the fourth settled the contest.

I rated Morales’s timing in their first fight, but this rematch showed how far his physical abilities had slipped. The fighter who beat Pacquiao and traded with Barrera still knew what to throw, but he couldn’t deliver it quickly enough or absorb what came back. His name was still a big draw, but that doesn’t block left hooks from a young, hungry champion.

Garcia had stopped Khan between their meetings and came in with greater confidence. I liked his patience here. He worked the body, established the jab and made Morales pay when he stood in front of him. The right hand near the end of the third was the real warning. Morales stayed upright, but his legs had gone. Garcia’s left hook in the fourth finished the job.

For me, Garcia deserves credit for clean, decisive work, without pretending he beat Morales at his best. The failed clenbuterol tests also deserved proper scrutiny. A later negative result didn’t explain them. Morales’s willingness remained; his ability to compete at this level had run out.