Cause he didnt really belong at 135 but had to cause he couldnt make weight as well as before., also styles of course played a huge part.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXG8dDGhO-M[/ame] Just listen to the first sentence Merchant says, it's what inspired the thread but I also think there's a few other factors
He was moving up in weight because he couldn't make 130 anymore and Raheem was a terrible choice for an opponent. Raheem's style was all wrong for someone who was forced to move up in weight. Morales was confused, disinterested and lost. He tried to overpower Raheem but could barely land anything. Terrible match-making there in my opinion. Morales didn't need an opponent like that as his first at a weight division he's physically forced to move to.
I don't know if it's the reference Merchant is trying to make but my guess is its kind of like where you betray a little of what you normally do in a competitive match because you feel you don't really need it.. Kinda like chess, where a high level player will indulge in the lower level player's capture frenzy just to humor them whereas normally they would take each and every move seriously, which reminds me of when they say that Morales doesn't mind brawling
1 - Raheems was a very good fighter with a troublesome style for Morales 2 - Morales was past his best
Raheem has a very difficult (almost BS) style overall - even when he had Morales off balance and hurt he refused to take any risks. It's a very negative style to fight against. He had a great performance, and Morales did come in sloppy and soft. Luckily, as soon as a guy with that non-pleasing style loses, he is never seen again ... whereas guys like Gatti and Erik can lose over and over and still be loved. Raheem is a great boxer, but not a great fighter.
that style was all wrong for morales. raheems style in general is hard to look good period. i didn't like this fight for morales as soon as i heard it. i immediately put $400 dollars on raheem when i heard the fight was made. raheem winning that fight and then not capitlizing on it is like winning the lottery and losing the ticket.
if there was a fight that arum should have fixed, this should have been it. this was a tune up for a pac's revenge ffs.