If Erik Morales had ducked MAB he would have made 18 successful title defenses in a row

I do not care too much about Hopkins number of defenses, however he did unified the division and beat Tito and delahoya. His legendary status comes from being the man in 2 traditional weight class and fighting till his 50s.
Without the mab trilogy, morales might not be refered as much as he is today. I don't know who rank higher all time sense, but I know who my all time favourite is. El terriblee.

 

I have no problem with that, but I have a feeling others will be different.

 

If Morales ducked the tough fights then he wouldn't wouldn't be Morales I don't think.

 

Bhop definitely ranks higher than MAB. Sorry. This is why I think too many "entertaining" guys get overblown. Winky Wright, Oscar, Tito, Pavlik, Pascal, Tarver, Joppy, throw in guys he made irrelevant like Tavoris and Shumenov and this guy was doing these guys in as a 40 borderline 50 year old. Can't do it. Have to disagree.

I would give Morales more credit if he moved up earlier in his career being 5'8. His style kept him grounded in lower weight classes as he could take punches better from smaller men.

 

So you condone ducking

 

I am incline to agree. However guys like Zaragoza, junior jones , Barrera, kevin kelly, pacman are comparable to Hopkins middleweight resume. I thought Hopkins only pull through with his lightheavyweight resume.

 

How dare anyone use the word Morales and ducking in the same sentence....

 

Not only that, but Morales would have been 50-0 if he'd ducked Barrera. When he beat Pacquiao his record was 48-2, 3-weight champ, with both losses to his arch rival Barrera.

 

Seriously? You're going to use this as a reason to prefer BHop to Morales? BHop moved down two weight classes for a decade, moved back up to his natural weight when he got old and couldn't make the massive weight cut anymore. He was huge for middleweight, and had probably 3 inches on almost all of his opponents there. He probably only moved back to light heavyweight so he could mask taking his roids better.

 

Morales is taller than Cotto, Floyd and Manny, a number of WW. If he fought guys his size, we wouldn't be talking about him. Bhop is still active today. Morales was done after Raheem who exposed he could easily get out boxed. After that he killed himself cutting weight and the rest is history.

 

Loved that guy!!! Great fighter, great heart and tough as they come.

 

Hopkins-Jones Jr was essentially May-Pac as far as procrastination for a superfight. Those men should've met up around 2002 but they were both being very stingy with their negotiation tactics (Roy wanted the bigger split, and since he did hold a win already over B-Hop, he probably should've got the 60-40 cut.)

I think what would've been more interesting is if Morales never met up with Manny or Barrera for so many fights, how much longer he would've been a dominant fighter in general. Those 3 men should be commended for continuing to take each other on and effectively shorten their careers from those wars.