Why do some believe that Morales wasnt that great at FWT ?

I constantly hear people say that Erik Morales wasnt that good at 126 lbs.

We all know he was best at 122 lbs - 1 of the best ever IMO - but I thought he was excellent at FWT too, he only had 1 bad performance & that was vs Espadas, in fact his 1st half of the fight was ok, he was leading then just didnt try at all, barely doing enough to keep his lead (I scored it even) but surely everybody is allowed 1 off night in a great career ?

His FWT fights I believe were.....

Juarez - KO 3 - did everything right, supposed to win & did win well.
Kelley - TKO 7 - Looked good, only lost 1 very close rd.
Espadas - W12 - Lacklustre 2nd half display, lucky to get verdict.
R. Jones - KO 1 - Enough said here.
Chi - W12 - Won clear enough but toubled more than expected by unknown Injin Chi, later Chi would show how good he really was & we know now that it was a good performance by Erik to do to Chi what no-one was able to do in Chi`s prime.
Barrera II - L12 - Outboxed prime Barrera & judges took it away from him for whatever reason.
Ayala - W12 - Won almost every rd vs near prime Paulie Ayala with excellent display of technical boxing.
Croft - TKO 3 - as expected, an easy night, no upsets here.
Velardez TKO 5 - Completely dominant as expected.


I THINK that was all his opponents & his next fight was vs Espadas again at 130 lbs - KO 3.

Doesnt look like a bad FWT reign to me.

:thumbsup

 

122 was his best, there is no dispute there & I feel he started off 130 like it was gonna be his best but a slack 1st 6 rds display vs Barrera of all people undid previous good work, he looked all the way back again after beating Pac but then BOOM, he was finished & all this happened at 130 so I would still rank his 126 reign as stronger than 130 where he lost 3 times, twice by stoppage.

Ps. Like I said earlier, Chi was a good fighter who in his prime only ever lost to Morales, with hindsight, Erik did well in that fight.
Kelley is a tough fight for anyone in the 1st 6 rds, Erik was dominant.
I thought he beat MAB clear but even if it was 50/50, thats very good as MAB was ranked p4p 3 - some had him 1, some had him 2 - & Erik supposedly had a liver problem in the Espadas fight which might or might not be true, he certainly won the rematch convincingly albeit at 130.

Your right about the other guys being nothing great but he did what he had to do & KO`d every single one of them.

Morales would test any FWT who ever lived, especially the version that beat Ayala.