Morales falls just short of upset of Maidana!

(From The Boxing Tribune)
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MGM Grand, Las Vegas, Nevada– There was no Cinderella story Saturday night at the MGM Grand, but Erik “El Terrible” Morales (51-7, 35 KOs) came closer than anyone imagined to pulling off the upset of the decade against a younger, bigger, and mega-aggressive Marcos Maidana (30-2, 27 KOs).

In the first round, the Argentine slugger, Maidana, jumped on Morales and put some serious hurt on the Tijuana native with a a feverish offensive output. Morales would finish the round with his right eye nearly swollen shut and the critics of the contest rallying the “I told you so” refrain.

However, as the fight progressed, Morales’ skill and craft found a way around Maidana’s physical advantages and turned an apparent mismatch into a candidate for Fight of the Year.

Moving smartly away from Maidana’s wide, looping punches, Morales was able to avoid the full force of the incoming shots while maintaining balance to score big with a bruising uppercut, an educated jab, and solid straight right hands.

Although shaken on occasion and clearly gassed from his sustained offensive output, Maidana kept coming forward and kept scoring with wide left hands that found a home on a completely one-eyed Morales.

With the score getting close, Maidana found the energy to close the show big, winning rounds eleven and twelve and ensuring the majority decision victory by scores of 116-112, 116-112, and 114-114. The Boxing Tribune also scored the bout 116-112 in favor of Maidana.

After the bout, the former three-division champ, Morales, sporting a hideously swollen right eye, boldly claimed that he should’ve gotten the decision and insisted on a rematch.