Fighter of the Week (4/24-): Victor Morales Jr
On a relatively quiet week of boxing, one card, deep in the Heart of Texas, captured the attention of fight fans. Two potential world champions stole the night, scoring second-round round stoppages. However, one of those KOs was so unexpected, so surprising, and so devastating that it had to capture this week's Fighter of the Week award. Victor "El Tornado" Morales of Vancouver, Washington, landed a picture-perfect left hook in the second round that changed the fight and led to the end of the night and possibly the end of the line for Diego De La Hoya. Morales picked up the biggest win of his career, the second KO, garnered national attention, moved his record to 18-0-1 (9), put himself in the world title picture at 126, and took home our Fighter of the Week Award.
"Be careful what you wish for. You might just get it." is the old saying. Morales got what he wished for, the fight that he wanted a showdown with once-beaten and highly touted prospect Diego De La Hoya, and did the 25-year-old Washingtonian ever deliver! The Washington native came out confidently behind a snappy jab, setting up De La Hoya for things to come. Those things came in a big way in the very next round. Morales scored with a thudding left that hurt De La Hoya. Morales frantically followed up with a whirlwind of power shots that hurt his opponent. Morales kept the pressure on De La Hoya, dropping the veteran with a short left hook. De La Hoya got to his feet but never got his legs back. He stepped up and tried to exchange with Morales. However, that proved to be a fruitless endeavor as Morales caught him with several more power shots, including a left hook followed by a right hand that caught the wounded Mexican on the temple and again put him down. This time unable to get back to his feet in time. Giving the 25-year-old Morales the biggest win of his young career and moving his record to 18-0-1 (9)
Morales walked into the arena at UT Arlington a 2:1 underdog and walked out with the biggest win of his career, the respect of his promoter and the boxing world, and put himself in line for a major fight. The 25-year-old is now knocking on the door of a world title fight. Many interesting fights can be made for Morales immediately, including a showdown with fellow unbeaten prospect Raymond Ford. Morales has done well in the Lone Star State, and a showdown with Fort Worthian Eddie Vazquez would be another interesting test. Veterans like Reiya Abe, Jordan Gill, or Jazza Dickens would be good step-ups and could be easily made. A win in a fight of that magnitude would propel Morales, who was Golden Boy's Prospect of the Year and has an amateur win over Vergil Ortiz, to a world title shot, and he could get that title shot as soon as 2023.
