With the super bantamweight division slowly losing its mainstays such as Nonito Donaire and Abner Mares to more money and higher weight divisions; a slew of contenders seem to be fighting for the top spot. One of those contenders could soon be Roman Morales (15-0 8 KO’s) out of San Ardo, California who was last seen dominating and stopping another previously undefeated prospect in Jesus Antonio Hernandez (now 10-1-3 2KO’s) as the opening bout of a ESPN Friday Night Fights broadcast this past February 22nd. Promoted by Gary Shaw and managed by Repo Rick, Morales took time out to call in and chat with Tha Boxing Voice staff on our weekend recap show to discuss his past, present, and bright future.
As the 122lb division thins out we asked the 21 year old California native his thoughts on the big names like Mares moving up and Donaire possibly moving up, “Well if they can’t make that weight any more than that’s their deal but it kind of sucks also because you want to try to fight the best in your weight division. They were the best in that weight division and I won’t be able to face them unless I were to go up later on…but I feel pretty good to stay in my weight division and things happen for a reason. If they go up then oh well that’s an opening for me and I feel pretty confident and strong with my coaching and everything that I can reach my future goals.”
Speaking of his past we wanted to know how the young Morales started boxing and how he arrived to where he is today. “I started off boxing because of my coach, he was a boxer before and I guess he had some that were older than me that kept bugging him about opening a gym, and before I used to play soccer and I guess he got tired of them bothering him to open a gym so he eventually opened it up and one day I decided to check it out. I went and I liked it, I stopped playing soccer but I wasn’t so good at boxing when I first started, I wasn’t good at all…the coach had told me just to stick with soccer and that I wasn’t going to do much in boxing…But I liked it so much I stayed with it and kept going and here I am now, I love it.”
The perseverant Morales started to develop his skills and arrived where he is now, using a relentless attack that has the fans buzzing about the growing star. Tha Boxing Voice then asked him what his promoter Gary Shaw had in store for him in terms of a next fight in which he responded “April 5th, After the fight we had in DC; I just been training and running and staying in shape for April 5th. They told me the same day if I wanted to fight on that date and I told them I wanted to stay busy…I feel good, I feel ready to go, so April 5th it is.”
With an opponent still undecided for the bout at the Chumash Casino in Saint Ynez, CA; Morales added, “For now we’re just trying to stay ready so hopefully I get matched up for that date.” In terms of what kind of fighter he was expecting to face “Well I’m expecting someone that’s going to be tough also and my coach is telling me that I’m going to be facing tougher opponents so we just got to be ready at all times. We have to start training harder, stay more focused, we have to stick with our plans, and stay strong in the gym.”
In his last fight that was televised on ESPN Friday Night Fights on the undercard of the Peterson-Holt card; Morales scored a 5th round KO in which he commented, “I felt good, we knew he was just a little shorter and we seen him fight before so when we were at the gym we were trying to work on the jab, trying to box him so when he would try to come in we would catch him when I was stepping back and we stuck to our plan and my corner just kept on telling me to box…sticking the jab out there and the 1-2 and not stay there; to catch him with that hook, so we kept on doing it. He caught me with a couple of good punches and that’s part of boxing.”
On the idea of his next fight going beyond his career high 8 rounds and into the 10 round territory, “They said that hopefully it would be scheduled for 10 rounds but they told me to be ready just in case it is 10 rounds, so that’s what I was told by my match maker I’ll be ready, I’ve been running a lot and staying focused and training hard.”
With his mind set on the super bantamweight crown we tried to pick at him to see who in his weight class he would like to face and how far away he is from challenging for a belt. “Well I haven’t really thought about that, that I would beat this guy or that guy. I really don’t think like that , I just try to stay ready , train hard, and face whoever crosses my path, be ready at all times. I never looked for an opponent and said oh yea I know I can beat that guy, I never do that, I just try to stay ready.”
If you’d like to follow the rising star on Facebook to show your support please feel free to look him up at [email protected]; we look forward to seeing his next fight. Stay tuned for the next Tha Boxing Voice radio show this Thursday Night!
For Audio of This interview click here: http://thaboxingvoice.cogito24.com/paul-malignaggi-roman-morales-weekend-recap/11067
