Casamayor willing to fight Morales in Tijuana

Upon hearing rumblings that Erik Morales 48-5(34) wants one more fight before hanging them up (so he says). A bout, which he would like to take happen in his birthplace of Tijuana, Mexico for the WBC Lightweight title. Boxingtalk.com contacted current WBC lightweight champion Joel Casamayor 34-3-1(21) and manager Luis De Cubas Jr., to get there take on the possible match up that would put one of Mexico’s all time best, against one of Cuba’s all time best. Read on as Casamayor comments on possibly fighting in Mexico, his take on Morales’s last bout against Pacquiao, and his prediction on how a fight between him the former three time world champion Erik Morales.

RC: What’s going on Luis (De Cubas Jr)?
Luis De Cubas Jr: Basically Erik Morales said he wanted to fight for the WBC Jr. Lightweight title and I am sitting here with Casamayor and he would certainly love to give him a chance to pass Julio Caesar Chavez record.

RC: Has anyone from Top Rank or Morales’ camp contacted you about this fight?
Luis De Cubas JR: We haven’t been contacted, there has just been a talk over the Internet, but tell Fernando Beltran (Morales’s manager) to give us a call anytime, and we can go ahead and make this fight happen.

RC: Joel, give us your thoughts on Morales recent loss to Pacquiao?
Joel Casamayor: I mean what can I say? He got stopped, but to me he looked like he could have just been drained that night. He didn’t look sharp to me, but you never know, everyone said that I was shot right? Every great fighter always has one last big fight in him and I think a fight with me would bring out the best in Morales one last time.

RC: So do you think him not having to loose an extra five pounds would make a world of difference and make for a competitive match against a fighter such as yourself?
Joel Casamayor: Ooh for sure; I have no doubt about that. Those five extra pounds will help him out a lot; he will be a totally different fighter from the Pacquiao fight.

RC: It’s clear he wants his last fight to take place in Tijuana, how would you feel about fighting him in Mexico?
Joel Casamayor: Show me the money; I will fight him in Mexico. If they pay me properly I will fight him anywhere, in Japan anywhere, all they have to do is just show us the money. He is a great warrior and I am a great warrior and if they want us to go to Mexico all they have to do is show me the money, I will be there.

RC: How would a fight between the two of you play out?
JC: It will be a great match up, with a great Cuban and a great Mexican but I will end up stopping him.

RC: Being the naturally bigger guy, would you feel like you would have to try and stop him early because of Pacquiao doing so in three?
JC: Not at all, there will be no pressure to knock him out. The pressure is to win the fight, which is what I get paid for. That’s to win the fight anyway it comes. In the later rounds of the fight I just don’t think he will be able to stay in there with me. I might not blow him out like how Manny did but that’s because he probably won’t be as dried out.

RC: A few weeks back there was talks that a possibly rematch between you and Acelino Freitas was in discussion, what can you tell us about that?
JC: Artie (Pelullo, Freitas’ promoter) went to Brazil and tied to make something happen and he never got back to us. We would love to fight Freitas too, but Morales is a legend and like I said before we would be honored to give him an opportunity to make history. Either way, I would love to fight both guys by the end of 2007.

RC: Have you guys spoken to the WBC about making all this happen, seeing as how David Diaz is the WBC interim champion and you guys might have to face him soon?
Luis De Cubas Jr: We will have to see; maybe we can give him some step aside money or something. I just don’t think the public is going to want to see David Diaz versus Casamayor. I mean does anybody? I mean I don’t think because he landed one left hook on Casamayor’s sparring partner (Jose’s Santa Cruz). I mean one lucky punch and now he is the interim champion, I mean who is going to pay for that. We want the biggest fights possible, he is 35 years old.

RC: Supposedly, Morales wouldn’t want to fight until June or July, would you guys play it safe and sit out the 8 or 9 months, or take a tune up in between?
LDJR: We will have to see, there is no need to wait that length of time. It’s not like he (Morales) was in a brutal fight at all. He went in there and got stopped in the third. We are willing to make the fight happen sooner if he is ready. If the money is right then we will wait, but we will like to have him back in the ring before that. Like Joel and I said before, we would love to give him the opportunity to make history, we don’t think he can but hey you never know. In boxing anything can happen.

 

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