Morales Wins Unanimously

Hold that call to the Prince.

Erik Morales of Mexico won a unanimous decision Saturday night over Guty Espadas to capture Espadas’ World Boxing Council featherweight title.

But just barely.

Morales, who has visions of a featherweight blockbuster against Prince Naseem Hamed down the road, didn’t convince too many among the announced crowd of 2,713 at the MGM Grand that he belongs in the same ring with Hamed.

Struggling at times, his head hanging between his legs between rounds and rocked by a powerful right hand from Espadas in the final round, Morales hung on at the end against a 7-1 underdog to improve to 40-0.

Judges Jerry Roth and Dave Harris gave the decision to Morales, 116-112. Dick Flaherty had Morales the winner, 115-113.

The Times also gave the decision to Morales, 115-113.

A former WBC 122-pound champion, Morales has fought at the heavier weight in only his last three fights. At 126 pounds, he looks slower, his punches less crisp.

“Obviously he is not as terrible as everyone says he is if he is just running around the ring,” said Espadas (33-3), referring to Morales’ nickname, Erik the Terrible.

“He threw a lot of punches,” Morales said, “and he had a lot of heart, but I landed the harder punches and I outboxed him. I thought I was in control of the fight.”

But even Morales had to concede that he was shaky in the final round.

“He did give me a really hard shot at the end,” Morales said.

Morales won a brutal war against Marco Antonio Barrera last February, a match designated fight of the year by some boxing publications. It appeared early in Saturday’s fight that Morales was in for another such slugfest, but he backed off, content to outbox his opponent and pile up enough points to pull out the victory.

“I knew I couldn’t win a decision here against him,” Espadas said. “There’s nothing I can do about the decision. It’s out of my hands. It’s the judges’ decision.”

It was a close decision, but a fair one.

Close enough to cause Morales concern should his promoter, Bob Arum, make that call to the Prince.

*

The last time James Page and Andrew “Six Heads” Lewis were scheduled to fight for the World Boxing Assn. welterweight title, back in August, Page was a no-show, holding out for more money.

The fight was finally held Saturday night as the semi-main event and Page was again a no-show.

Oh, he was in the ring, but, from the opening bell, he showed nothing against Lewis, who dominated from the start, put Page down in the second round and stopped him at 1:13 mark of the seventh round to win the WBA crown via TKO.

Lewis (20-0-1, 19 knockouts) put Page (25-4) down with a zinging right hand to the left temple in the seventh, a punch that caused Page to hop once from the force of the blow before he hit the canvas.

Page got up to beat the count, but referee Kenny Bayless took one look at Page and wisely ruled the fight was over.

“It was like target practice out there,” Lewis said, “but I did watch out for his right hand. He hit me with some good shots, but Six Heads can take it to the chin.”