...thought it might get some fingers typing. Our sport has traditionally been dominated by the heavyweights. Ali, Louis, Tyson, Marciano, Holyfield; these are the men most fans can contect with immediately. But recently, the heavyweights have become mired in mediocrity and quite frankly, don't interest many people at all. Who cares if they're big, muscly and look impressive? They can't throw two punches in a row, that hit a 50ft sized target. So we look elswhere for our stars. The feathers have been one such haven for talent. Unfortunately in todays boxing world, most boxing fans fall into two categories; A Morales fan or Barrera fan. This quite frankly, sucks. Because the two of them come from completely different ends of the spectrum in terms of upbringing and they stand for such different things, fans have become quite divided and can rarely speak highly of the other. Im the first to admit that I am no longer a fan of Erik Morales. I think he's a classes goon who is primed to get his nosed punched in. But he's clearly a great fighter and is acknowledged that almost everyday. What I think is wrong, is that alot of fans seem to think the two are very similar, in terms of their overall career. I think its time someone put that to rest and gave the credit Barrera deserves. He's the greatest thing to come out of Mexico since Chavez and one of the VERY best the country has ever produced. Perhaps only Chavez and Sanchez were greater. I am going to attempt to give you guys some perspective into what Im talking about. Yup, its just numbers, but sometimes numbers are the most easily communicated. Julio Cesar Chavez Years Active: 1980-2005* Record: 108-5-2 (87 KOs) Championship Record: 31-4-2 (21 KOs) Multiple Weight Success? Yes. Junior Lightweight, Lightweight and Super Lightweight. World Champions Faced: 22. 16 wins, 4 losses, 2 draws. Salvador Sanchez Years Active: 1975-1982 Record: 44-1-1 (32 KOs) Championship Record: 10-0 (5 KOs) Multiple Weight Success? No. World Champions Faced: 5. 5 wins, No losses. Ruben Olivares Years Active: 1965-1981, 1986-1988 Record: 88-13-3 (78 KOs) Championship Record: 8-5 (6 KOs) Multiple Weight Success? Yes. Bantamweight and Featherweight. World Champions Faced: 15. 7 wins, 8 losses. Carlos Zarate Years, Active: 1970-1979, 1986-1988 Record: 66-4 (63 KOs) Championship Record: 10-4 (10 KOs) Multiple Weight Success? No. World Champions Faced: 7. 3 wins, 4 losses. Miguel Canto Years Active: 1969-1982 Record: 61-9-4 (15 KOs) Championship Record: 15-2-1 (1 KO) Multiple Weight Success? No World Champions Faced: 11. 5 wins, 3 losses 1 draw. Ricardo Lopez Years Active: 1985-2001 Record: 51-0-1 (38 KOs) Championship Record: 25-0-1 (19 KOs) Multiple Weight Success? Yes. Strawweight and Junior Flyweight World Champions Faced: 11. 10 wins, No losses and 1 draw Humberto Gonzalez Years Active:1984-1995 Record: 43-3 (31 KOs) Championship Record: 15-3 (8 KOs) Multiple Weight Success? No World Champions Faced: 11. 8 wins, 3 losses. Vicente Saldivar Years Active: 1961-1967, 1969-1971, 1973 Record: 37-3-0 (26 KOs) Championship Record: 9-2 (5 KOs) Multiple Weight Success? No. World Champions Faced: 9. 7 wins, 2 losses. Daniel Zaragoza Years Active: 1980-1997 Record: 55-8-3 (28 KOs) Championship Record: 16-5-3 (5 KOs) Multiple Weight Success? Yes. Bantamweight and Super Bantamweight. World Champions Faced: 19. 10 wins, 6 losses and 3 draws Erik Morales Years Active: 1993-2005* Record: 48-2 (34 KOs) Championship Record: 18-2 (11 KOs) Multiple Weight Success? Yes. Super Bantam, Featherweight, Super Featherweight. World Champions Faced: 16. 14 Wins, 2 losses. Marco Antonio Barrera Years Active: 1989-2005* Record 60-4 (42 KOs) Championship Record: 19-3 (13 KOs) Multiple Weight Success? Yes. Super Bantam, Featherweight, Super Featherweight. World Champions Faced: 19. 15 wins, 4 losses. What does all this mean? Well, first of all, it must be made out that fighters like Chavez, Barrera, Lopez, Zaragoza and Morales, fought under the Four World Champion era, instead of the Two World Champion (or One) era. This obviously means that their numbers in both the world title fights AND world champions faced categories, will be inflated, possibly two-fold, OR four fold. Also of note, is the weight class introduction AND previous day weigh-ins. Its inflated the numbers of world champions again AND allowed for a far easier passage for the fighters through weight classes. It really puts into perspective what Saldivar and Sanchez were able to do, in such short careers. However, in comparison with the greats, Barrera comes out smelling nicely. Not included in his world championship record, are his wins over Hamed, Sanchez, Tapia and Kelly as he held no recognised championship belt at the time, even though he was the #1 fighter in the division. That is very impressive. More impressive, is the fact that Barrera started out his career as a Flyweight and was in line for a shot at the WBC 115 pound championship, before moving up in weight to fight @ 122. When people speak of Morales and Barrera being equals, they are not telling the full story. Morales is clearly the bigger man and on the night of their last fight, (Barrera's first @ 130), Morales weight 144 pounds. A full ELEVEN pounds more than Barrera. A Lightweight fighting a welterweight. Barrera's victory that night cannot be over stated. It was a gigantic performance, at the tail end of his career, against his hated rival. How great has Barrera been? Its hard to say, as these kinds of things are subjective. What I do know is, that Marco doesn't always get the credit he deserves, for the boatlod of work he has put in, in his career. Yes, he got creamed by Jones AND Pacquiao. No, he didn't (hasn't) avenged either of those. But consider the quality of opposition he has defeated in his career and you begin to get a picture of what kind of a fighter we've been witnessing over the last decade or so. Before his loss to Jones, Barrera was 43-0. A 22 year old prodigy, who was ranked in the top 5 P4P at the time. Only Jones, Whitaker, De La Hoya and Trinidad were in front of him. It wasn't until he upset (even though not given the decision) Morales in 2000, did he become a recognised great, once again. After beating Hamed AND Morales in 2001 and 2002 (close, could have gone the other way) he again shot into the top 5. 6 years had passed and he was still in his late 20's. Pacquiao's beating, left many thinking his career was over. Again he was forgotten and when he stepped in with a living legend in Morales for the third time, in a fight nobody thought he would win...he beat Morales up and put on a career defining performance. Appreciate him while you have him guys, because fighters like Barrera don't come along all too often. He doesn't have long left, but while he's here, I'll be enjoying every second of it. Viva Barrera!
Whatever this internet stalker "jaws" wrote in response to my post is insignificant because he is on ingore.::
People underrate Barrera these days because he's getting a bit advanced in age. But there was a time when Barrera was top 3 P4P. When Pacquiao thrashed him, people began to jump on the "Barrera is a crippled washed up overrated former champ" bandwagon. I never bought into it. After the Pacquiao loss, he destroyed Paulie Ayala (who he isn't much bigger than to be honest), beat Morales, and found a way to beat a younger, stronger Rocky Juarez x2. Even in his fight against Fagquez he was competitive all the way through and nearly had Fagquez out of there. In the end I think Pacquiao, Morales, and Barrera will be remembered as a golden age of featherweights 20 years from now. Those guys proved that little men could own the stage as well as any.
MAB is a legend and anyone who thinks otherwise is just hating on him. His record speaks for its self.
barrera's a great fighter, but it should be noted that he's always been a dirty fighter. he also failed to beat guys who whupped his ass.
Great post. :bears: I've always been a fan of Barrera (even though he is dirty), and also feel he's greater than Morales. Morales gets more accolades, IMO, because he's more of an all-action fighter whereas Barrera sometimes gets criticized for boxing smartly (i.e. Juarez II, etc.) instead of upholding the "traditional Mexican warrior" nom de guerre in every fight.
i disagree, morales was the greater, more CONSISTENT fighter/champion. he never got blown out in his prime and beat guys that destroyed barrera.
