 Morales is one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world |
Mexico's Erik Morales successfully defended his WBC super featherweight title in his unification bout against Carlos Hernandez in Las Vegas. Morales won with a unanimous decision against the El Salvador fighter, who held the IBF title.
It was the 47th victory of Morales' career to go with one loss and 34 KOs while Hernandez's record is now 40-4-1 with 24 KOs.
The judges scored it 119-109, 115-113, 119-109 for Morales.
Morales (47-1, 34 KOs) was hampered with a cut above his left eye for a majority of the fight, but that didn't stop him putting in another impressive display.
Morales nearly sent Hernandez to the canvas in the ninth with a left jab with Hernandez stumbling back a few steps before regaining his balance.
But Moralez started dominating the fight after that, controlling the pace superbly.
"I knew it was going to be a complicated fight," Morales said. "I really admire the effort on behalf of Carlos."
"I did my best and my best was not enough," Hernandez admitted. "He was very, very awkward. He would not let me through my punches because he was so close."
Morales said he plans on fighting twice more at this division before moving up a weight.
On the same bill, Mexico's Rafael Marquez retained his IBF bantamweight title with a third-round knockout of Heriberto Ruiz.
Marquez, who raised his record to 32-3, 29 KOs, knocked Ruiz down at two minutes, 11 seconds in the third round.
MMIX
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