LOS ANGELES — Greater than a 12 months since he final fought, Victor "El Twister" Morales Jr. (20-1-1, 10 KOs) says he is able to show himself once more. “I'm again stronger than ever, with a special chip on my shoulder this time round,” Morales informed The Sporting Tribune in a cellphone interview this week. The Vancouver, Washington native returns Nov. 20 towards Leonardo Sanchez in an eight-round light-weight bout on the Amari Jones and Gabriela Fundora Golden Boy card at Fantasy Springs Resort On line casino in Indio, California, streaming on DAZN.
His final combat was a unanimous resolution loss to veteran Rene Alvarado on the Chavez Jr. vs. Paul undercard on the Honda Middle, and Morales says the time since has achieved him good. He used it to relaxation, chill out and get snug with what occurred, and he calls this camp one in every of his greatest. He says he feels nice and quicker than ever. “We’re excited to go on the market and do what we do greatest,” he stated. He additionally factors to rather a lot occurring away from the health club round that point, together with the delivery of his first son, however he’s not making something of it. “I’ve come at peace with what occurred, and we transfer on,” Morales stated.
The drive he fights with was constructed lengthy earlier than Golden Boy. Morales grew up in part of the nation that doesn’t normally produce fighters, and he says it adopted him by the amateurs. “I really feel like I’ve at all times needed to work two or 3 times tougher than anybody else,” he stated. “I’ve at all times been regarded down on simply due to the realm. All the large guys, all the primary names, Texas, California, the East Coast, everybody at all times comes out of these. Each time it was like, oh, I’m preventing somebody from Washington? I’m like, yeah, nicely, good luck.”
“We’ve at all times needed to show our level, and that’s what we did,” Morales stated. The outcomes got here within the amateurs, however there was solely a lot he and his group may do as execs in Washington, so that they moved his camps to California, the place he says he will get the fitting sparring and the whole lot else he wants.
Morales has backed up that chip on his shoulder earlier than. In April 2023, he requested for the Diego De La Hoya combat and knocked him out in two rounds to win the WBA Intercontinental featherweight title.
Boxing has been the one fixed in his life. Morales has been within the health club since he was about 5 and began boxing at 7, and when requested what he could be doing if he weren’t a fighter, he had no reply. “I’ve achieved this for thus lengthy, I don’t actually have that reply,” he stated. “I’ve been within the health club since I used to be like 5. I began boxing at 7, so actually that is all I do know.” Exterior the health club, he’s a Pacific Northwest child who snowboards, rides side-by-sides within the dunes and heads to the seashore, with the dunes, mountains and river all inside two hours of house. “I similar to to be outdoors,” he stated.
The 28-year-old can also be preventing for a rising household. He and his spouse have a son and predict a daughter subsequent 12 months. “I’m not simply doing this for me,” Morales stated. “Now it’s for my son, my household, and the household that I’m rising. All the things simply goes for them, actually, simply to go in and are available out wholesome and with a win.”
As for Sanchez, an unbeaten 24-year-old southpaw nicknamed “Bazooka” who’s 11-0 with 9 knockouts, Morales says most of his focus is on what he has to do, a behavior from a protracted beginner background, however he is aware of what’s coming. “He’s going to come back with numerous stress. He’s an influence puncher, and he’s a younger man, so I anticipate him to tug all these out of his bag, and he’ll see what he will get from me on combat evening,” Morales stated. “I can field, I can combat. No matter I gotta do to get the win, I’m gonna do.”
Morales additionally works with an skilled nutritionist, dials in his weight during the last 5 or 6 weeks and says he makes it simply. “The one factor I’ve to do is give attention to my sport, and that’s it,” he stated. “I’ve bought individuals round me that may do what they should do to get issues achieved.”
Golden Boy Promotions
Victor Morales Jr. lands a left hand on Ivan Guardado throughout his TKO win on the Rocha vs. Curiel card in December 2024.
This Saturday, Morales can have a rooting curiosity when Matchroom’s Diego Pacheco meets Golden Boy’s Darius Fulghum in Carson, California. He plans to observe and should even attend. “I gotta root for my boy Diego Pacheco,” Morales stated. “I feel he’s going to come back out with a dominant win.”
Even after his final evening on an MVP card didn’t go his approach, Morales sees worth in these reveals. He stated he was merely seeking to keep energetic when Golden Boy, which was working with MVP on the present, positioned him on the cardboard on the Honda Middle. “They’re good for the game of boxing. It brings in new eyes, completely different eyes, and that’s at all times good,” he stated. He understands the purists’ objections, however “I’m not silly. I perceive the place the cash is and the place the alternatives are.”
Wanting again, Morales says he wouldn’t change any of it. “I’m happy with what I’ve achieved, the whole lot that I’ve achieved,” he stated. “Accidents, ups and downs, shedding household, gaining household, constructing my circle of relatives. If you begin to consider it going again, it’s been an incredible journey, and there’s nothing that I might change, actually.” The objective, he says, has not moved. “I’m simply out right here, wish to do the perfect that I can do and grow to be world champion. And that’s the objective.”
