During the post-fight press conference, Morales talked about how it was a great fight, and how Diaz wouldn't stop coming after him, and how he's retiring, and blah blah blah.... then mentioned that Diaz was fighting dirty and the ref should've done something. Once he stepped down, Morales' father began to speak about Diaz using illegal tactics, and went on and on about Diaz fighting dirty, and finally stepped down. When Diaz finally spoke, he just gave Morales a lot of respect, and also mentioned that he wasn't trying to fight dirty, but it is a fight, not a chess match. Then he went on about Morales being a great warrior...then Morales got up and began speaking into the microphone, interrupting Diaz. Morales repeated that Diaz is a dirty fighter, then Diaz began to argue with him saying that his tactics were unintentional, but it is a fight. Then people had to get in-between them to make sure things didn't get out of hand. Then Morales turned around and left. I thought it was unusual for Morales to complain that Diaz was a dirty fighter rather than claim the judges made a wrong decision. In my eyes, Morales handled Diaz pretty well for a so-called "shot" fighter.... I though Morales edged Diaz on points. I didn't see what he gained from calling Diaz a dirty fighter. By the way, Bob Arum also mentioned that the Mexican judge scored a 10-9 round for Morales in the first round despite the knockdown. He didn't think this was a big deal because Diaz did appear to be winning the round before the knockdown. However, the judge also scored 10-8 for Diaz in the 2nd round, there did appear to be a knockdown but it was ruled a slip, so no knockdown and the round was pretty close. Arum said that if you give an extra point to Morales on this judges scorecard, Diaz still would've won, so it's really not a big deal, but he felt people deserved to know. Just giving the heads up (damn judge)
Thanks for that, H.! It is a shame if Morales failed to maintain the dignity required by his station in the profession. Soon, hopefully, people will forget this and we'll start talking about the real Erik Morales.
imo, diaz did fight dirty... he hit erik with his elbows, forearm and shoulders when they were at the ropes... still, erik was able to weather diaz's "tactics" enough to deserve a close win which those damn judges denied him.