Eric Morel (born October 1, 1975) is a Puerto Rican professional boxer. He is a former

World Boxing Association The World Boxing Association (WBA), formerly known as the National Boxing Association (NBA), is an international professional boxing organization based in Panama. The WBA awards its world championship title at the professional level. Founded ...

(WBA)

flyweight Flyweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Flyweight is a class in boxing which includes fighters weighing up to and including 51 kg (112 lb) for a title fight. Professional boxing The flyweight division was the last of boxin ...

(112 lb) champion.

Amateur career

Morel had an outstanding amateur career, and was the National Golden Gloves Light Flyweight Champion in 1994. He also was a member of the 1996 US Olympic Team as a Flyweight. His result was: Lost to Maikro Romero (Cuba) 12-24

Professional career

Flyweight

"Little Hands Of Steel" turned professional in 1996 and won his first 33 bouts, including the WBA World

Flyweight Flyweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Flyweight is a class in boxing which includes fighters weighing up to and including 51 kg (112 lb) for a title fight. Professional boxing The flyweight division was the last of boxin ...

title with a decision win over Sornpichai Kratingdaenggym in 2000 and the IBA World

Super Flyweight Super flyweight, also referred to as junior bantamweight, is a weight class in professional boxing, contested from and up to . History The first title match in this division was in 1980, when the World Boxing Council responded to pressure from A ...

title in 1998 against Víctor Burgos. He defended the belt five times with wins over Gilberto Keb Baas, Denkaosan Kaovichit, and Isidro García before losing it to Lorenzo Parra by decision in 2003.

Super Flyweight

He then moved up in weight and took on WBA

title holder Martín Castillo in 2005, but lost a decision. Morel was scheduled to fight Z Gorres for the interim WBO bantamweight title on November 14, 2009, but after the latter's last fight, he (Gorres) suffered a major injury that delayed his boxing career, so the fight was called off. He then returned to the ring against Gerry Peñalosa February 13, 2010; That ended in a win for Eric Morel, lifting the interim

WBO The World Boxing Organization (WBO) is an organization which sanctions professional boxing bouts. It is recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) as one of the four major world championship groups, alongside the World Boxin ...

bantamweight Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports and weightlifting. For boxing, the range is above and up to . In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between . In mixed martial arts, MMA, bantamweight is . The name for the class ...

world championship. He then defeated Juan Jose Beltran December 11, 2010 as a 2-0 record since his return. His next and latest match was against Luis Maldonado April 1, 2011; That now has his record at 3-0 since his return from injury.

Professional boxing record

Outside the ring

Shortly after the loss to Castillo, Morel was convicted of sexual assault of a drunken 15-year-old girl and was sent to prison. In July 2007, Morel was granted an early release within 30 days of August 1, 2007 to allow him to serve the remainder of his sentence on extended supervision.

References

External links

* * , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Morel, Eric 1975 births Living people Puerto Rican male boxers Boxers from San Juan, Puerto Rico Bantamweight boxers Super-bantamweight boxers Boxers at the 1995 Pan American Games Pan American Games competitors for the United States Boxers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Olympic boxers for the United States Sportspeople convicted of crimes People convicted of sexual assault National Golden Gloves champions World flyweight boxing champions World Boxing Association champions 20th-century American sportsmen