Eric Arturo Morel (born October 10, 1975 in San Juan, Puerto Rico) is a Puerto Rican professional

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: * Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing *Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

. He is a former World Boxing Association (WBA) flyweight (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 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 boxing weight classes, 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 respond ...

title in 1998 against

Jose Victor Burgos Jose is the English transliteration of the Hebrew and Aramaic name ''Yose'', which is etymologically linked to ''Yosef'' or Joseph. The name was popular during the Mishnaic and Talmudic periods. *Jose ben Abin *Jose ben Akabya *Jose the Galilean ...

. He defended the belt five times with wins over

Gilberto Keb Baas Gilberto José Keb Baas (born October 21, 1977 in Hunucmá, Yucatán, Mexico) is a Mexican professional boxer in the Light Flyweight division. Gilberto is the former WBC Light Flyweight Champion. Pro career WBC Light Flyweight Championship ...

, 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 Martin Castillo in 2005, but lost a decision. Morel was scheduled to fight

Z Gorres Zeta Celestino Oliveros Gorres (born 18 April 1982) is a Filipino former professional boxer who challenged once for the WBO super-flyweight title. Personal life Gorres has a brother named Jun Gorres who was formerly a boxer but was stabbed to ...

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 Penalosa 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 Boxing ...

bantamweight 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

, - , style="text-align:center;" colspan="8", 45 Wins (23 knockouts), 4 loss(s), 0 Draw, 0 No Contest , - style="text-align:center; background:#e3e3e3;" , style="border-style:none none solid solid; ", Res. , style="border-style:none none solid solid; ", Record , style="border-style:none none solid solid; ", Opponent , style="border-style:none none solid solid; ", Type , style="border-style:none none solid solid; ", Rd., Time , style="border-style:none none solid solid; ", Date , style="border-style:none none solid solid; ", Location , style="border-style:none none solid solid; ", Notes , - align=center , Loss , 46-4 , align=left, Leo Santa Cruz , , 5 , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Loss , 46-3 , align=left,

Abner Mares Abner Mares Martínez (born November 28, 1985) is a Mexican-American professional boxer who also works as a boxing analyst and commentator for Showtime. He has held multiple world championships in three weight classes, including the IBF bantam ...

, , 12 , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 46-2 , align=left, Jose Silveira , , 4 (10) , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 45-2 , align=left, Daniel Quevedo , , 4 (10) , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 44-2 , align=left, Luis Maldonado , , 4 (10) , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 43-2 , align=left, Juan Jose Beltran , , 8 , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 42-2 , align=left, Gerry Penalosa , , 12 , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 41-2 , align=left, Roberto Bonilla , , 10 , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 40-2 , align=left, Ricardo Vargas , , 1 (10) , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 39-2 , align=left, Heriberto Ruiz , , 12 , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 38-2 , align=left, Jose Garcia Bernal , , 3 (10) , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 37-2 , align=left, Carlos Valcarcel , , 6 (10) , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 36-2 , align=left, Felipe Almanza , , 8 , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Loss , 35-2 , align=left, Martin Castillo , , 12 , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 35-1 , align=left, Juan Alfonso Keb Baas , , 12 , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 34-1 , align=left, Jesus Rojas , , 12 , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Loss , 33-1 , align=left, Lorenzo Parra , , 12 , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 33-0 , align=left, Isidro García , , 12 , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 32-0 , align=left, Denkaosan Kaovichit , , 11 (12) , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 31-0 , align=left, Alex Baba , , 10 , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 30-0 , align=left, Jose de Jesus Lopez , , 8 (12) , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 29-0 , align=left,

, , 12 , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 28-0 , align=left, Alberto Ontiveros , , 12 , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 27-0 , align=left, Sornpichai Kratingdaenggym , , 12 , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 26-0 , align=left, Alberto Ontiveros , , 12 , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 25-0 , align=left, Tomás Rivera , , 8 , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 24-0 , align=left, Oscar Arciniega , , 8 , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 23-0 , align=left, Miguel Ángel Granados , , 12 , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 22-0 , align=left, Francisco Espitia , , 1 (12) , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 21-0 , align=left, Lorenzo Trejo , , 4 (8) , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center , Win , 20-0 , align=left, Jose Rafael Sosa , , 8 , , align=left, , align=left, , - align=center

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 Sportspeople from San Juan, Puerto Rico Flyweight boxers Living people World Boxing Association champions World flyweight boxing champions Boxers at the 1995 Pan American Games Pan American Games competitors for the United States Boxers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Olympic boxers of the United States Puerto Rican male boxers