Greater/Better: Morales or Barrera

These two will always be linked. Who was greater/better?

 

My first reaction is to say mab, but that Pacquiao win for morales is huge. Might have to give him the edge.

Yeah, thinking about it again, morales is definitely greater. Better is a wash

 

Morales was better and greater IMO.

 

Slight edge to Morales, even if Barrera won 2 outta 3.

 

I've long thought all three of the official results in their series were wrong. I had Barrera winning the first, then Morales winning the rematches.

 

Morales was always less hyped.

Barrera was anointed as "the next Chavez" starting in the mid 90s.

 

I thought the first two were the wrong way round, but Barrera deserved the decision in the third.

 

That's my memory of it. Haven't seen the fights for ages but i don't recall much controversy about the decision in the third one.

 

Those three fights were all really close. I had Barrera winning the first, Morales winning the second and the third fight even.

 

They were neck and neck from 2000-2004 in terms of who was better and greater.

I might give Morales the slight edge in both too but there's fuck all in it, really.

 

If Barrera has a case, it might be his higher P4P rankings. At the time Pac beat Barrera, Ring Mag had MAB ranked #3 P4P behind B-Hop and Roy. I don't think there was ever a point in Morales' career when he was considered as high as top 3.

I would go w/Morales though, I'm just saying, a case can be presented for MAB I suppose.

 

third fight was close. i had it a draw. afterward at the press conference barrera said in spanish and delahoya translated, "This proves Im better than morales and Golden Boy is better than Top rank."

which spawned one of the more memorable quotes ive heard as Arum grabbed the mic and yelled, "Reaaaaal classy, Oscuhhhh"

 

An aged, fat, shot, Morales was competitive with Danny Garcia. He's greater

 

he also ko'd cano and had success against maidana. then again, he lost to david diaz.

 

I think you have to consider Morales greater, he has the win over Pacquiao. I do think in a head to head between the two Barrera was better imo.

 

Not only Pac, but Morales destroyed Junior Jones.

 

Morales had a lot more bad performances though. Off the top of my mind, MAB only really poor performance was the first JJ fight. Morales had at least a couples vs Raheem, Espada and Chi.

 

Morales vs chi was a tremendous fight.

 

So was the Espada fight but that's beside the point. A good fight doesn't erase the fact that a guy of Morales stature shouldn't struggle with Espada/Chi level fighters.

 

No. The Espadas fight was boring by morales standards, he was flat

The chi fight was an all out fucking war, cuz chi was a dog

 

Well,.mab might still add to his greatness. Hes supposed to be taking on ponce de leon in november

 

Barrera.

Barrera won more rounds head to head. He consistently was awesome right until the tail end of his career. Barrera could box anyone and look good, even the most awkward opponents like Hamed. Morales needed his opponents to ‘fit’ in order to look really good. Morales was a skeletor at featherweight. He had a solid 2” height and even more reach advantage on Barrera and still lost most rounds. Morales was 2 years younger so that along with his larger frame allowed him moderately greater success than Barrera at higher weights. Morales ended his career with more losses and less KOs (both as a #’s and %’s) than Barrera. Also Morales was busted doping which helped him move up also. Despite that they have very comparable resumes with Barreras peak having occured earlier and top wins at lower weights since he was naturally smaller- but Barrera edges Morales for above reasons. Also most ‘independent’ ranking orgs put Barrera above Morales career-wise, for whatever thats worth.

 

Wtf

 

This is all well and good, but Morales did far better vs common opponents. Having a win over Pacquiao and a won over Jones is way better than being 0-4 against them.

 

Have to say Morales I think.

 

Who have the cars?

 

If Barrera had nicked that decision vs Marquez, or even drawn, itd be really tough choice, mind. There's not very much in it.

 

Barrera's style was more aesthetically pleasing; he always looked more impressive.

Morales sure as fuck did not have the smoothness of a Sanchez or Finito Lopez. However, the results show he could be more effective than MAB.

 

Marco Antonio Barrera, Daniel Ponce De Leon Clash on November 20


Thrilling stuff.....

 

I saw Barrera in his US debut, and I saw Morales on the undercard of Chavez v Gamache; Enrique Sanchez and Jose Luis Castillo were also on the show. My friend- he managed Jesus Chavez- told me how Morales showed up late for the weigh in, spent an hour in the bathroom because they had been feeding him laxatives to make weight. Then Morales refused a rematch.
I have always favored Barrera, probably because I saw a lot of him at the fights and in gyms.