As they prepare for their fights as part of the Sept. 17 "Star Power" boxing event, headlined by the fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Victor Ortiz, Canelo Alvarez and Erik Morales will be sharing some thoughts on their careers every week.
Alvarez will be defending his WBC light middleweight title against Alfonso Gomez in Los Angeles while Erik Morales takes on Lucas Matthysse for the vacant WBC super lightweight world title in Las Vegas on the Sept. 17 "Star Power" event on HBO Pay-Per-View (9 p.m. ET).
In our first installment, Alvarez and Morales talk about what it was like to win their first titles.
What was is like and how did you feel when you won your first championship?
Canelo Alvarez: My first championship was the WBC light middleweight title. I won in a 12-round unanimous decision over Matthew Hatton earlier this year.
The support of my fans was amazing. It's a difficult feeling to explain, but being world champion was my first dream to accomplish. I realized that dreams come true if you work hard. It is very difficult to reach that goal but never impossible. For me, there is no dream impossible.
I fought 12 hard rounds and Matthew was very tough. At the end of the fight when my name was announced with my hand held high, I knew this was not a dream anymore.
Erik Morales: It was 1999, I was 21 years old and I was fighting Daniel Zaragoza.
I had gotten off to such a strong start to my career, winning my first pro fight at 16, that I really went into that fight with the most confidence than I ever had in my career. I knew I wasn’t leaving that ring without a championship.
My fans in El Paso that night were very supportive. If I recall, I knocked him out late in the fight, 10th or 11th round. It felt very good, actually very nice and happy to make a great dream come true, and at the same time think and know that it was part of those elected to earn a world title.
Undoubtedly becoming a world champion for the first time is something that only those who did it know what it feels like.
