Limond-Morales: an impossible task for the Scotsman?

On  11 September, Scotland's Willie Limond gets the fight of his dreams when he travels to Mexico City and takes on Mexican legend Erik Morales. Morales has held world titles in three weight divisions, from super-bantamweight to super-featherweight and boasts wins over the likes of Marco Antonio Barrera and Manny Pacquiao.  Morales also makes it onto the list of ESPN’s 50 greatest boxers of all time, where he ranks 49^th.

 

In contrast, Limond has never fought for anything close to a world title (no Willie, winning the vacant WBU strap doesn’t count!) and has lost the only two times he has stepped up in class, against Alex Arthur and Amir Khan. Limond’s last outing was a laboured points victory over journeyman Duncan Cottier (3-54-3), a far cry from taking on Morales in his own backyard.

 

On paper, it may sound like an impossible task for Limond but at 33, Morales is not the fighter he once was and the fight will take place at light-welterweight. Limond has fought most of his career at or around the lightweight limit and I would expect him to be strong at the light-welter limit.

 

Morales, who started out at super-bantamweight, stepped up to lightweight in 2007 and dropped a unanimous decision to David Diaz, to complete a four-fight losing streak, before announcing his retirement from the sport. The Mexican made his comeback earlier this year (at welterweight), outpointing Jose Alfaro. Morales however looked far from his peak, in terms of his speed and his physical shape.

 

Lets make it clear. Limond is not fighting the Morales that beat fifteen world champions during his career, he is fighting a shadow of the man, at a weight he is not best suited to. For this reason, Limond does have a chance to cause a huge upset. Unfortunately for the Scotsman, a shadow of Morales may well be too much for a prime Willie Limond. Limond doesn’t possess the punch power to cause Morales significant problems, even at light-welterweight, and I see Limond giving a good account of himself and gaining a lot of respect in a clear points defeat.

 

Almost not worth mentioning is the news that up for stakes on the 11^th is something called the WBC diamond light-welterweight title. How can something be worth so much and completely worthless at the same time? There seems to be nothing WBC president Jose Sulaiman likes more than a good sanctioning fee!