Erik Morales: Tijuana's 'El Terrible', Four-Division Champion and the Man Who Beat Pacquiao in 2005
Trained by his father in Tijuana, Erik Morales became the first Mexican-born boxer to win world titles in four weight classes, fought Marco Antonio Barrera three times and outpointed Manny Pacquiao in 2005 before turning to politics in Baja California.
Erik Morales came out of Tijuana's Zona Norte with his father in his corner and a style built on standing his ground. He won world titles in four weight classes, fought Marco Antonio Barrera three times, and in 2005 beat Manny Pacquiao on the Las Vegas Strip. After boxing he went into politics in Baja California, and that career has had its own troubles.
A Boy From Zona Norte and a Father Who Trained Him
Erik Isaac Morales Elvira was born on September 1, 1976, in the Zona Norte district of Tijuana, a few miles south of the US border. His father, José Morales, had boxed himself, and he became his son's trainer and manager. According to Wikipedia's account of his career, Erik started in the gym at five years old. The partnership with his father lasted most of his career.
The amateur results came early. Morales is credited with 114 amateur bouts, 108 wins and 6 losses, and 11 major national titles in Mexico. He turned professional at 16. On March 29, 1993, in Tijuana, he knocked out José Orejel in two rounds. Fans soon called him "El Terrible."
El Paso, 1997: The First World Title
He won steadily through the mid-1990s and got his first title shot on September 6, 1997, in El Paso, Texas. The opponent was Daniel Zaragoza, the veteran WBC super bantamweight champion, and Morales knocked him out in the eleventh round. A Front Proof Media retrospective says the finishing punch was a straight right to the body. Morales kept the WBC belt at 122 pounds until 2000.
The Barrera Years
On February 19, 2000, Morales fought Marco Antonio Barrera, a fellow Mexican, to unify titles at super bantamweight. He won a split decision that people still argue about, and the fight started one of boxing's best-known rivalries. They met again on June 22, 2002, with a WBC featherweight title on the line, and Barrera won a unanimous decision. The third fight, on November 27, 2004, went to Barrera by majority decision. RingTalk covers the trilogy round by round in a separate article. For Morales's career, the main point is that two of his first losses as a professional came against the same man.
He kept winning titles in between. He took the WBC interim featherweight belt by stopping Kevin Kelley in seven rounds on September 2, 2000. He won the full WBC featherweight title from Guty Espadas Jr. on points on February 17, 2001, and won it back with a unanimous decision over Paulie Ayala on November 16, 2002. At 130 pounds he beat Jesús Chávez for the WBC super featherweight belt on February 28, 2004, then outpointed Carlos Hernández on July 31 of that year to add the IBF title.
March 19, 2005: Beating Pacquiao in Las Vegas
Morales went into his first fight with Manny Pacquiao at 47-2. Pacquiao was 39-2-2. They met at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on HBO pay-per-view, at super featherweight, with only minor belts at stake. In the fifth round his right hand opened a cut over Pacquiao's right eye, and he kept a disciplined pace through the later rounds. Late in the fight he spent stretches fighting from a southpaw stance, a switch Front Proof Media remembers him joking about with HBO's Larry Merchant afterward.
All three judges, Paul Smith, Dave Moretti and Chuck Giampa, scored it 115-113 for Morales. The Associated Press and HBO's unofficial scorer Harold Lederman had it wider, at 116-112.
This is often described as the first defeat of Pacquiao's career, and it was not. Pacquiao's own record shows two earlier losses, both third-round knockouts from his early years in Asia: one to Rustico Torrecampo and one to Medgoen Singsurat in a flyweight title defense. Morales was the man who beat Pacquiao on boxing's biggest stage, just before Pacquiao became a dominant star.
The Slide: Raheem and Two Nights at the Thomas & Mack
The win did not start a run of success. On September 10, 2005, Zahir Raheem outpointed him at lightweight. The Pacquiao rematch followed on January 21, 2006, at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. Pacquiao had clearly improved and stopped Morales in the tenth round. Morales had stayed on his feet twice earlier in that fight, once by grabbing the ropes in the second round and once by falling onto the referee in the sixth. The third fight, at the same arena on November 18, 2006, drew a crowd reported at 18,276. Pacquiao knocked him out in the third round. By 2007 Morales had announced his retirement.
The Comeback and a Fourth Division
He came back on March 27, 2010, outpointing José Alfaro over twelve rounds for a WBC regional belt at welterweight. On April 9, 2011, he fought Marcos Maidana, a heavy-handed Argentine expected to beat him, and lost a majority decision on cards of 114-114, 116-112 and 116-112. Many observers called it his best performance since the first Pacquiao win.
Five months later, on the undercard of Floyd Mayweather against Victor Ortiz on September 17, 2011, Morales fought Pablo César Cano for the vacant WBC super lightweight title. Referee Kenny Bayless stopped the fight after the tenth round. The win made Morales the first Mexican-born fighter to hold world titles in four weight classes. Some critics questioned the belt itself, because it was vacant only after the WBC stripped Timothy Bradley months earlier.
Danny Garcia, Clenbuterol and the End
Danny Garcia took the title from him by unanimous decision on March 24, 2012. Their rematch was set for October 20, 2012, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. In the days before it, the US Anti-Doping Agency reported that urine samples taken from Morales at his Mexican training camp on October 3 and October 10 had tested positive for clenbuterol. A later test came back negative and the fight went ahead. Garcia knocked him out with a left hook in the fourth round. Morales blamed contaminated meat. In March 2013, according to ESPN, USADA banned him for two years. He retired officially in June 2014 with a record of 52-9 and 36 knockouts.
Recognition came quickly. In December 2017 the International Boxing Hall of Fame elected him in his first year of eligibility, in a class with Vitali Klitschko and Winky Wright. He was inducted at Canastota, New York, in June 2018. When the Boxing Writers Association of America reported his election, Morales said, "It's an honor to be elected into the Hall of Fame and recognized for my achievements."
Politics in Baja California
In the 2018 Mexican general election, Morales ran for the federal Chamber of Deputies in Baja California's 7th district for the Morena-led "Juntos Haremos Historia" coalition. The Tijuana weekly Zeta reported that he took 58.06 percent of the vote, about 61,320 ballots, and won by more than 38,000. Wikipedia lists him on the chamber's sports committee. He served the 2018-2021 term. He then headed Tijuana's municipal sports institute and later the state's Institute of Sports and Physical Culture. In November 2023 he registered to seek Morena's nomination for mayor of Tijuana. Vanguardia reported that he announced the bid at his gym in Zona Norte.
He did not get the nomination. He was later appointed Secretary of Welfare in Tijuana's municipal government under Mayor Ismael Burgueño. In July 2025, Zeta reported two sexual abuse allegations against him: one dating to 2013 at a gym, and one involving a municipal employee at his office on July 4, 2025. Zeta said he resigned his post so the investigation could proceed. Wikipedia describes him as having been removed. The allegations had not been tested in court as of those reports.
His family has also suffered loss. Wikipedia records that his son Fernando, one of his seven children, died of a heart attack in December 2021 at the age of 23.
Sources
- Erik Morales, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
- Erik Morales vs. Manny Pacquiao, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
- Boxing career of Manny Pacquiao, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
- Hall of Fame Class of 2018 Announced, Boxing Writers Association of America, December 5, 2017
- Blood of a Warrior, Heart of a King: Erik "El Terrible" Morales, Front Proof Media
- United States Anti-Doping Agency bans Erik Morales two years for failed tests, ESPN, March 25, 2013
- Distrito 7, tres a uno: triunfan Terrible y Morena, Zeta Tijuana, July 2018
- 'El Terrible Morales' busca ser candidato de Morena para la alcaldía de Tijuana, Vanguardia, November 24, 2023
- No sabía de las denuncias: gobernadora sobre acusaciones contra Erik Morales, Zeta Tijuana, July 14, 2025
