Philadelphia boxer's foe fails to make weight for title fight

HOUSTON - Erik Morales lost his WBC super-lightweight championship without his Philadelphia challenger, Danny "Swift" Garcia, throwing even one punch.

At Friday's official weigh-in, Morales (52-7, 36 KOs) was unable to make the 140-pound limit, coming in at 142. In accordance with WBC rules, the only Mexican to ever hold world titles in four separate weight classes was stripped of his super-lightweight championship.

The HBO-televised bout in the Reliant Center will take place as scheduled Saturday night, and Garcia (22-0, 14 KOs) can still have his hand raised as the new WBC super-lightweight champ should he win. If Morales wins, however, the title will be declared vacant.

The 35-year-old Morales captured his first world championship as a super bantamweight (122 pounds), later adding titles at featherweight (126) and super featherweight (130). He reportedly had been having problems getting down to 140. At a prescribed weigh-in 30 days in advance of his fight with Garcia, Morales came in at 152.9 pounds, and he was still at 147 at another prescribed weigh-in seven days ago.

The scheduled 12-round main event is part of a doubleheader to be televised nationally by HBO, with the lead-in a 10-rounder pitting middleweights James Kirkland (29-1, 27 KOs), of Austin, Texas, against Carlos Molina (19-4-2, 6 KOs), of Mexico.

If the 24-year-old Garcia takes care of business against future Hall of Famer Morales, 35, his next opponent could be North Philly's Mike Jones (26-0, 19 KOs).

Jones, a welterweight rated No. 1 in his weight class by both the IBF and WBO, is scheduled to face veteran power-puncher Randall Bailey (42-7, 36 KOs) for the vacant IBF 147-pound crown June 9 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. That fight will be part of a major pay-per-view telecast topped by the matchup of WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley.

Garcia and Jones, 28, each would like to appear as a world champion in his hometown. So why not test themselves against each other should they clear their respective hurdles? If Garcia is not comfortable immediately moving up to welterweight, it seems reasonable that a catchweight bout, somewhere around 143 pounds, could be arranged at the Wells Fargo Center or Liacouras Center, provided the money is right.

That's a lot of ifs, notes J Russell Peltz, who promotes Jones along with Top Rank.

"Both guys would have to win their world titles in spectacular fashion," Peltz said about a possible Garcia-Jones bout. "I'm not sure how many sports fans in Philadelphia know who Jones and Garcia are yet.

"I'm not talking about hardcore boxing fans, but Eagles fans, Phillies fans. That's the difference between drawing a crowd of 15,000 and 3,000."

The last of the all-Philly megafights were waged more than 35 years ago at the Spectrum. On Nov. 18, 1975, middleweights Bennie Briscoe and Eugene "Cyclone" Hart battled to a 10-round draw, setting the stage for the April 6, 1976, rematch, which Briscoe won on a first-round knockout.