TalkingBoxing.com Interview

February 16, 2004
Interview with ERIC MOREL
by Jose Manuel Martino - Boxeomundial.net
    For the first time in three and half years Eric Morel finds himself without a title after losing to Lorenzo Parra this past December 6. On that night Morel would drop a unanimous decision in what was supposed to be his last fight at 112 before moving up. There were talks of a fight with Mark "Too Sharp" Johnson on HBO after his fight in December , but instead Morel gets to start again. In the first of a two part interview, former WBA jr. flyweight champion Eric Morel discusses his immediate future and talks about his first defeat the hands of Lorenzo Parra.

ERIC MOREL, PART ONE

Hi Eric, when will you be fighting again?

March 20th.

And that fight is definitely going to be at 115? Yeah it's going to be at 115.

Is that going to be on the Pay Per View that Peter Rivera is doing?

It's going to be with Peter Rivera, but I don't know if it's going to be on Pay Per View.

That's the card in Puerto Rico, right?

Yeah, it's going to be in Puerto Rico.

Do you know who you are going to be fighting?

At this point I have no idea ... and it really doesn't matter.

How many fights do you think you will need before you go for a title at 115? Hopefully no more than two, this one and another one. That was my old weight class before, so all I just have to do is get the feeling of it once again.

When you went down to 112, was is to get your title shot?

Yeah, I went down when I went for the title.

And at 115, who would you like to fight most?

It really doesn't matter. At this point I'm so anxious that I will fight anybody. Name a champion, whoever gives me the opportunity.

Do you think you might have stayed at 112 too long? How did you feel coming in to your last fight?

Coming in I felt great. I just didn't do what I was supposed to do. I didn't fight the way I usually fight. But I mean that's something that I just don't want to blame anybody for. My stamina was great; the only thing was I didn't feel like my punching power ... I just didn't feel as strong as I usually do.

Normally you are known as a boxer. In your last fight it seemed like your foe was the boxer and you were doing most of the chasing, was that ...

(cuts in) Yeah, that's what I was talking about. I just didn't do what I was supposed to, but I mean that was all my fault.

Was that because you were fighting in Puerto Rico and you were trying to impress the fans.

Yeah, maybe so. Maybe that was the reason and I was trying to knock Lorenzo out. Another thing I noticed was that while the rounds were going by he was slowing down and his stamina was dropping a little bit. So I decided to keep on the pressure to see if I would eventually land a punch and knock him out.

When he dropped you, did he hurt you?

No it didn't hurt me at all. It was just one of those flash knockdowns. It was on the back of my head, and I mean if you saw the fight you could see that as soon as I got back up I went back to fighting. It was not like I was backing up trying to look for time to recover. It was a knock down, but it was one of those flash knockdowns.

Is he somebody you would like to fight again?

I would love to fight Lorenzo again, but not at 112 ... but I would definitely love to fight him again.

E-MAIL Jose Manuel Martino: jose_martino@boxeomundial.net