LAS VEGAS -- Marco Antonio Barrera may be the best featherweight in the world right now, but the title of the world's most exciting featherweight still belongs to his rival Erik Morales.

The Tijuana warrior battled Paulie Ayala for 12 back-and-forth, brutal rounds en route to a unanimous decision victory before a crowd of 7,082 vocal fans at the Mandalay Bay's Event Center on Saturday.

Morales, who improved to 42-1 (31 via knockout), won by comfortable scores of 117-111 (twice -- Burt Clements and John Keane) and 116-112 (Anek Hongtongkam).

CompuBox reflected the official scoring, with Morales landing 44 percent of his total of 961 punches thrown compared to only 22 percent of the 852 punches Ayala launched. Morales landed 54 percent of his 597 power punches, according to CompuBox, which was the real difference in a competitve fight. Ayala only landed 26 percent of his 638 power shots.

Morales proved to be the stronger, sharper-punching fighter in the wild final round, when both men let it all hang out for three minutes. Morales dominated the frantic final minute of the action-packed 12th, nearly forcing Ayala to the canvas with his sheer volume of punches. Morales landed 74 of a whopping 135 total power punches thrown in the 12th, according to CompuBox.

"This was a tough fight," Morales said. "All the guys I fight are tough and all of my title fights are tough. My fight with Wayne McCullough was a tough fight, my first fight with Barrera was a tough fight, my fight with Guty Espadas was a tough fight, my fight with In Jin Chi was a tough fight. I tried to make the second fight with Barrera a tough fight, but he didn't want to do that.

"Unlike Barrera, my goal is always to satisfy the fans."

While Ayala blocked many of Morales shots over the first half of the fight, Morales began to break through the Texan's tight defense in the late rounds. Ayala's left eye was completely shut after the eighth round, and although he kept punching through the late rounds his shots no longer had the snap they did early in the bout.

"By far, this was my toughest fight ever," Ayala said. "He's a very heavy handed hitter. He also had a reach advantage against me and he was hitting at the end of his punches."

The gracious Ayala agreed with the judge's scorecards and said he will make a decision next week as to whether he will stay at 126 pounds or go back to the junior featherweight (122 pounds) weight class where he is considered the champion.

Before the fight, Morales said he would stop Ayala, but struggles to make the featherweight limit and hand injuries during the fight, along with the surprising physical strength Ayala showed, ended any hope of an early ending.

"I did have trouble making the weight," Morales admitted. "I suffered more to make weight for this fight than in any other fight. I also hurt my left hand early in the fight and I hurt my right hand late in the fight.

"I know I promised all of you a knockout, but I want to tell you, I had an opponent in front of me who wanted to win really bad. He was strong and he had a very good chin. So, I'm sorry I wasn't able to knock him out."

Morales did enough damage to force Ayala to skip the post-fight press conference and go straight to the nearby Valley Hospital.

Of course, now the big question for Morales, who regained his WBC world featherweight title that was declared vacant after his loss to Barrera this past June, is whether or not he plans to engage in a rubber match with his rival.

"If HBO wants the fight and they are willing to put up the money to make it happen, than yes, we will do it again," Morales answered.

In a division filled with strong and talented fighters, a third match with Barrera is the only fight that makes sense for Morales. Both have proven that they are the top two fighters in the division. They've proven that fact by splitting two close fights and by beating quality fighters like Johnny Tapia and Ayala this month. Both men proved to be too strong for the smaller champions who came up in weight to fight them, but while Barrera dominated Tapia earlier this month with controlled boxing, Morales beat Ayala with sheer guts and determination.

Morales is simply the purest warrior in the sport of boxing -- no disrespect to Micky Ward and Arturo Gatti. The title to this pay-per-view card was "Never Surrender" and that is the gaunt-looking boxer-brawler's credo.

His incredible will power will see him through 99 percent of all his scraps, no matter how determined the other guy is. And with Ayala, he had a tough nut in front of him.

Ayala, now 34-2 (12), took the fight to the bigger man as expected in the early rounds, backing Morales to the ropes with straight lefts in the first round and landing crisp, hard combinations in the second round.

Morales, of course, battled back in the third, stalking the shorter southpaw and landing the harder, cleaner punches in the round. Ayala swarmed Morales in the fourth, smothering the taller man's punches, landing a big left but eating some hard right hands from Morales at the end of the round, which caused the pro-Mexican crowd to roar. The fifth lacked action, and both men grappled on the inside and took a breather, knowing the that the second half of the fight would be brutal.

The two traded violent power shots of the head-snapping variety throughout the sixth round, bringing the crowd to its feet.

Although Morales has tended to fade in the late rounds of recent fights, against Ayala he seemed to get stronger round after round following the sixth. In the seventh, Ayala landed a big left had, but Morales just smiled and then pretended to lean back from the force of the shot, mocking the power of his opponent. By the eighth and ninth rounds, Morales was forcing a tiring Ayala back. Although Ayala rebounded in the 10th by smothering Morales all round, the two-time WBC titlist asserted himself in the championship rounds.

If Morales has a future fight hit list, it probably goes in this order: 1. Barrera, 2. Naseem Hamed (whom he mentioned in the post-fight presser), 3. The winner of the Feb. 1 bout between Juan Manuel Marquez and Manuel Medina (for the vacant IBF title), and 4. A top contender, or maybe even a titlist, at 130 pounds.

Morales said he can still make 126 pounds but added that he is seriously considering moving up to junior lightweight. Whatever happens with his future, one thing is certain: Morales will always be in action-packed fights.