A title fight takes place in Mexico City this evening involving a living legend and a Brit hoping to bring down the curtain on his illustrious career, yet Erik Morales v Willie Limond has passed under the radar.
The WBC Silver light-welterweight title may be up for grabs here but many expect the travelling Scotsman to be lucky to get back to home soil in one piece after facing a man who has beaten both Manny Pacquiao and Marco Antonio Barrera during his seventeen years at the top of the game. Few, if any, of the thousands of Mexicans who will pack the Monumental Plaza de Toros will have heard of Willie Limond but, encouraged by the recent success of fellow countryman and friend Ricky Burns, the 31 year old Glaswegian will be looking to write his name into the boxing history books with a famous giant killing.
Limond famously knocked Amir Khan onto the seat of his pants during an enthralling meeting back in 2007 before being stopped in the 8th with a broken jaw but that was one of only two career defeats from 35 outings and with five straight wins since that night, he enters in the best shape of his life.
Scottish boxing is buzzing from the events of last week as Burns clinched a world title in dramatic fashion but bookmakers write off the away fighter’s chances with Sportingbet going a top price 9/1 about an upset.
At 34 years old, and with 55 hard fights under his belt, it’s safe to say Erik Morales has seen better days. He has only just returned from a 3 year retirement to record one comeback bout and with just 2 wins from his last 7 outings, many believe he is another fighter who just doesn’t know when to call it a day. Considering those defeats have come to the likes of Pacquiao, Barrera and David Diaz though, we can hardly consider him a journeyman and odds compilers offer a slim 1/6 Boylesports.
The fight will be shown live on Premier Sports in the early hours of Sunday morning and although it isn’t one to get carried away with, I wouldn’t put anyone off a small wager on Limond. He is seen as a no hoper but he is at his comfortable weight of light-welter so will be healthy and strong whilst his opponent has spend much of his career down at super-featherweight. Limond should be stronger and this fight should tell us exactly what kind of nick Morales is in these days but the little Mexican is well schooled, has seen it all before and still harbours dreams of facing the sports big boys again. An inside the distance win for ‘El Terrible’ gets my vote at 4/5 (boylesports).
If your staying up have a small interest on the home town favourite by KO and a little on Limond on points at 20/1 (sportingbet). It should be a cracker nonetheless!
