David Diaz narrowly defeated future Hall-of-Famer Erik Morales in a fight that shifted momentum continually right up until the final bell. Diaz' bullish style forced the veteran Morales to employ just about every tactic in his repertoire to stave off the relentless champion. For most of the fight, Diaz attacked Morales with hooks and uppercuts while Morales countered with straight rights and lefts. Diaz' insistence on fighting on the inside proved problematic for Morales. Besides pushing the top of his head into Morales face, Diaz successfully landed clean hard uppercuts to Morales' head while doing his inside work. By keeping the fight in close quarters, Diaz was able to rattle and tire Morales.

    Diaz benefited from the lenient referee Benjy Estevez, who allowed Diaz to use his roughhouse tactics freely. It was reminiscent of the way referee Carlos Padilla let Roberto Duran to run amok and rough up Sugar Ray Leonard at will in their first fight in Montreal. Not until round nine, when Diaz struck Morales to the head with a blatant elbow, did Estevez issue a warning to Diaz. Morales' corner was livid with Estevez by the championship rounds - and rightfully so. An entirely different referee, such as the more stringent Jay Nady, would have likely altered the course of this fight by halting Diaz' use of his head & elbows.

     "El Terrible" Morales enjoyed his best moment in the first round when seemingly dazed and clearly under fire, he landed a punch that deposited Diaz on the canvas. While Morales incurred a lot of damage during the inside fighting, he still dished out plenty of punishment. This was evident when Morales jab caused Diaz' right eye to swell and the right side of his face to bruise by the middle of the fight. Perhaps a younger Morales would have been more successful in eluding Diaz' bullying tactics. Still, Morales deserves credit for fighting the cleaner fight and boxing much better than Diaz did.