LOS ANGELES — More than a year since he last fought, Victor “El Tornado” Morales Jr. (20-1-1, 10 KOs) says he is ready to prove himself again. “I’m back stronger than ever, with a different chip on my shoulder this time around,” Morales told The Sporting Tribune in a phone interview this week. The Vancouver, Washington native returns Nov. 20 against Leonardo Sanchez in an eight-round lightweight bout on the Amari Jones and Gabriela Fundora Golden Boy card at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, California, streaming on DAZN.
His last fight was a unanimous decision loss to veteran Rene Alvarado on the Chavez Jr. vs. Paul undercard at the Honda Center, and Morales says the time since has done him good. He used it to rest, relax and get comfortable with what happened, and he calls this camp one of his best. He says he feels great and faster than ever. “We’re excited to go out there and do what we do best,” he said. He also points to a lot going on away from the gym around that time, including the birth of his first son, but he is not making anything of it. “I’ve come at peace with what happened, and we move on,” Morales said.
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The drive he fights with was built long before Golden Boy. Morales grew up in a part of the country that does not usually produce fighters, and he says it followed him through the amateurs. “I feel like I’ve always had to work two or three times harder than anyone else,” he said. “I’ve always been looked down on just because of the area. All the big guys, all the main names, Texas, California, the East Coast, everyone always comes out of those. Every time it was like, oh, I’m fighting someone from Washington? I’m like, yeah, well, good luck.”
“We’ve always had to prove our point, and that’s what we did,” Morales said. The results came in the amateurs, but there was only so much he and his team could do as pros in Washington, so they moved his camps to California, where he says he gets the right sparring and everything else he needs.
Morales has backed up that chip on his shoulder before. In April 2023, he asked for the Diego De La Hoya fight and knocked him out in two rounds to win the WBA Intercontinental featherweight title.
Boxing has been the one constant in his life. Morales has been in the gym since he was about 5 and started boxing at 7, and when asked what he would be doing if he were not a fighter, he had no answer. “I’ve done this for so long, I don’t really have that answer,” he said. “I’ve been in the gym since I was like 5. I started boxing at 7, so really this is all I know.” Outside the gym, he is a Pacific Northwest kid who snowboards, rides side-by-sides in the dunes and heads to the beach, with the dunes, mountains and river all within two hours of home. “I just like to be outside,” he said.
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The 28-year-old is also fighting for a growing family. He and his wife have a son and are expecting a daughter next year. “I’m not just doing this for me,” Morales said. “Now it’s for my son, my family, and the family that I’m growing. Everything just goes for them, honestly, just to go in and come out healthy and with a win.”
As for Sanchez, an unbeaten 24-year-old southpaw nicknamed “Bazooka” who is 11-0 with nine knockouts, Morales says most of his focus is on what he has to do, a habit from a long amateur background, but he knows what is coming. “He’s going to come with a lot of pressure. He’s a power puncher, and he’s a young guy, so I expect him to pull all those out of his bag, and he’ll see what he gets from me on fight night,” Morales said. “I can box, I can fight. Whatever I gotta do to get the win, I’m gonna do.”
Morales also works with an experienced nutritionist, dials in his weight over the last five or six weeks and says he makes it easily. “The only thing I have to do is focus on my game, and that’s it,” he said. “I’ve got people around me that can do what they have to do to get things done.”
Victor Morales Jr. lands a jab on Ivan Guardado during his TKO win on the Rocha vs. Curiel card in December 2024.
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Victor Morales Jr. lands a left hand on Ivan Guardado during his TKO win on the Rocha vs. Curiel card in December 2024.
This Saturday, Morales will have a rooting interest when Matchroom’s Diego Pacheco meets Golden Boy’s Darius Fulghum in Carson, California. He plans to watch and may even attend. “I gotta root for my boy Diego Pacheco,” Morales said. “I think he’s going to come out with a dominant win.”
Even after his last night on an MVP card did not go his way, Morales sees value in those shows. He said he was simply looking to stay active when Golden Boy, which was working with MVP on the show, placed him on the card at the Honda Center. “They’re good for the sport of boxing. It brings in new eyes, different eyes, and that’s always good,” he said. He understands the purists’ objections, but “I’m not stupid. I understand where the money is and where the opportunities are.”
Looking back, Morales says he would not change any of it. “I’m proud of what I’ve done, everything that I’ve done,” he said. “Injuries, ups and downs, losing family, gaining family, building my own family. When you start to think about it going back, it’s been an amazing journey, and there’s nothing that I would change, honestly.” The goal, he says, has not moved. “I’m just out here, want to do the best that I can do and become world champion. And that’s the goal.”
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
