Saturday, November 16, 2002
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Morales moonlights in music industry

Featherweight gets acting role in video of singing pal Flores

By KEVIN IOLE
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Boxers are notorious for being flaky, but Erik Morales is learning firsthand that singers might be just as free-spirited.

Morales, who fights Paulie Ayala for the WBC featherweight title tonight at Mandalay Bay, is executive producer for the record label of Mexican singing star Nico Flores, his close friend.

Morales has acted as a manager for Flores and appears in one of his music videos, in which he fights with boxer Jorge Arce over a girl.

Tending to Flores' needs was an eye-opening experience for Morales, who toured the country with him.

He was kiddingly asked which group was crazier, singers or boxers.

"It's pretty close," Morales said with a grin. "I never thought I would say that. I always thought I would answer you the same way."

• ALMOST A LETTER SORTER -- Ayala worked briefly for the U.S. Postal Service after graduating high school in Fort Worth, Texas.

His mother is a longtime postal employee and he joined her for a while, working as a letter sorter. He had boxed as an amateur for more than 16 years, with well over 300 fights, and had soured on the sport.

But he got inspired after seeing Eddie Cook, whom he had beaten in the amateurs, win a world title.

"He beat Israel Contreras and (that) got me to thinking," said Ayala, who will earn his first $1 million purse tonight. "I realized I didn't want to be sitting somewhere as a 40-year-old wondering why I didn't give it a try and see how far I could take it."

• PROPHETIC GIRL -- Ayala's wife Leti, who is intimately involved along with manager Scott Sherman in directing her husband's career, said it was destiny that she got involved in boxing.

Ayala was 18 and she was 16 when they were introduced by another boxer, Sergio Reyes. They have been together ever since, but she knew it would be a match long before it happened.

When she was 16, she went home to her parents, Rev. Raymond and Sylvia Barrera, and told them, "I'm going to marry a boxer."

Now, she plays a key role in the career of a highly successful boxer.

"She's my best friend and I don't know where I'd be without her," Ayala said.