According to Dan Rafael of espn.com former three time world champion Erik Morales will takes on Marcos Maidana to headline an HBO PPV card on April 9 in Las Vegas.
“I got the ‘Fight Freak’ card done,” Said Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy Promotions, referring to the hardcore boxing fans he hopes to please with the lineup. “Everything is locked in.”
The other televised bouts on the show:
• Robert Guerrero, a former featherweight and junior lightweight titlist, and Australian action star Michael Katsidis will meet in the co-feature matching lightweight contenders.
• Middleweight Winky Wright will face Matthew Macklin of Great Britain in a previously announced bout.
• Junior middleweight James Kirkland, one of boxing’s hottest rising stars before his career was sidetracked by an 18-month prison stint, will open the card against an opponent to be named. Kirkland’s fight is contingent upon winning and not being injured in a fight scheduled for March 5, his first fight since being released from a halfway house where he recently completed his sentence.
“I can tell you what Erik Morales said to me, that he feels like this is an early Christmas present,” Schaefer said. “It’s really the fight he wants. He feels that he has the style to beat Maidana and he feels with Maidana, he is taking on the most dangerous 140-pounder. He said, ‘I don’t want to just do a fight. I want to do a fight where a win will take me back to where I was.’ I agree with Erik that a win against Maidana will do exactly that. Maidana is one of the most credible 140-pounders and an exciting fighter. Most people rank him third in the division [behind Timothy Bradley Jr. and Khan].”
“He and his father were begging us for this fight,” Schaefer said. “He did take some time off and there is a history of fighters who took time off and came back and did write another chapter in the career, and not only pick up where they left off but go to bigger heights.
“Erik has had three fights [on his comeback], not against the easiest opponents, but not against the toughest opponents. But that shows how serious he is about his comeback. Each opponent was a gradual step up and it allowed him to measure where he stands. I’m happy for him that we were able to deliver that early Christmas gift to him. Not many fighters would sign up to fight Maidana.”
“It’s one of the most exciting fights one can make in boxing and I’m really looking forward to it,” Schaefer said. “Helluva fight. The winner will come out as a major guy.”
When touching on the Wright-Macklin fight, Schaefer said “There’s a lot at stake for both guys,”
“James Kirkland will open up the show,” Schaefer said. “The plan is that we have James fighting on March 5 in a non-televised bout and then he’ll come back on April 9 on the opening bout of the pay-per-view.”
