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Erik Morales (born September 1976, Tijuana, Mexico) is a professional boxer.

He is widely regarded among Boxing cognoscenti and followers as one of the greatest pugilists currently in practice, having defeated every man he ever fought in his professional career of 47 fights. He is currently the undisputed Super-Featherweight champion of the world.

Morales had a somewhat disadvantadged upbringing. His father was a struggling gym-owner in the city's industrial zone, but wanted something better for his sons. However, at his own request, the young man was introduced to Boxing at an early age, showing great promise, and in 1993 fought his first professional fight. Given his rapid success in the 1990's, his initial desire to study Refrigeration Technology soon became moot.

In 1997, he became the first fighter ever to stop the acclaimed champion Daniel Zaragoza via knock out. As it was the first time the champion had ever been unable to beat the count of ten, the fight was widely hailed as a 'passing of the torch' between the existing champion, and the younger Morales.

In September 1998, in another landmark fight, one symbolic of the tensions between the Mexican and American Boxing communities, Morales knocked out Junior 'Poison' Jones of Brooklyn, New York. Jones went into the fight with a daunting record against Mexican fighters of 35 victories, and no losses, most notably including two victories over the previous champion, Marco Barrera, in 1996 and 1997. Also noteworthy was that Jones was entering Mexico for the first time to fight, in Morales' home town of Tijuana no less. The fight was a heatedly contested 3-round affair between both men, with Jones hoping to repeat his exemplary performance against Morales' countryman, Marco Barrera, before Morales knocked out Jones with 2 consecutive overhead right crosses in the 4th.

In October 1999, Morales fought Wayne Mcullough of Belfast, Northern Ireland. Mcullough is famed for having extremely high resilience to punches, having stopped the hitherto unbroken string of knockouts by Naseem Hamed, a fighter even more famous, but instead for extremely hard punches. In a fight that showcased all his talents, Morales thoroughly outboxed Mcullough in a pitched battle in all 12 rounds bar one, the 11th, of which he complained of exhaustion and feeling under par. Morales notes that he wanted to move to Featherweight (126Ibs) from Bantamweight (126Ibs) prior to this fight, explaining that he was unusually tall (5'8 1/2") for a Bantamweight, had fought at 122Ibs since 1993, and as he moved further from his teen years, found it increasingly arduous to make the weight.

In February 2000, Morales defeated Marco Antonio Barrera, in a fight that is considered one of Boxing's classic, albeit most vicious battles. Clearly suffering the ill-effects of weight-drain, a condition of lost strength from fighting below natural weight, Morales nonetheless outlanded Barrera in the final punch counts over 12 rounds, and including the 12th, where the judge incorrectly ruled a collision of hips that tipped over an off-balance Morales as a Knockdown.

After a year of strain to continue at Bantamweight, Morales immediately moved up to Featherweight. In his second fight at this weight, he fought 33 year-old Kevin Kelley in September 2000. Kelley, who aged nearly 31 had knocked down Naseem Hamed 3 times in their classic fight in at Madison Square Gardens, was unable to replicate this performance against Morales' sturdy chin. Knocked down in the 5th and 7th rounds, Kelley was finally trapped in the 7th by a flurry of 5 consecutive uppercuts from Morales. Supported only by the ropes, a 6th uppercut landed, and the fight was stopped. Morales retained his Featherweight title.

Morales fought again in 2000, knocking out Rodney Jones in the 1st round shortly before Christmas, but the strain of the fights against Mcullough and Barrera below his rising natural weight, coupled with the overwork from the busy fighting schedule had very clearly taken their toll, and most Boxing commentators noted that his performances had degraded somewhat since his move to Featherweight.

In February 2001, he fought Guty Espadas, a well-established and acclaimed fighter with a 13-fight winning streak. After easily winning the opening 5 rounds, Morales seemed to tire rapidly, and Espadas' punches grew in frequency and effect. The last 2 rounds saw the champion clinch frequently, and although most commentators agreed that Morales had, according to the ten-point scoring system, won the fight by a single point, they also agree that this was probably the closest Morales had ever been to losing.

In July 2001 Morales fought Injin Chi, a relatively unknown Korean fighter with an excellent fighting record in his home country. Although few dispute Morales victory on points, the fight was very hard fought, with Chi showing incredible resilience to Morales' power, and dogged determination to land punches. Chi went on to become a higly ranked member of the Featherweight international community, knocking out British champion Michael Brodie early in April, 2004.