Eulogising recently retired fighters isn?t one of my favorite tasks. They don?t always stay retired ? already Erik Morales is thinking of a David Diaz rematch, while Evander Holyfield is still trying to exorcise the ghost of losing to Lennox Lewis in 1999 ? and it has become a hobby of mine to spot up-and-coming talent.
This one is different. Marco Antonio Barrera has officially retired after failing to beat Manny Pacquiao in a bid to wipe the slate clean on one of his worst losses. There will be no comeback for a modern great who seems to have been fighting with great skill, but on fumes for the past two years.
Marco managed to avoid the shots that had annihilated him in the 2003 night at the Alamo that announced ?Pac Man? as a major star. Last weekend at the Mandalay Bay, his jabs were cleaner than many of Manny?s flurries, but the body couldn?t obey what the mind wanted to do and openings that would once have been stolen were missed.
This writer had him barely behind after ten rounds that were tactical not down to Pacquiao?s growth as a fighter, but Barrera?s excellent skills, agreeing with the 115-112 tally for the fresher Filipino. Two defeats to the same guy and the book?s been closed on one of Mexico?s best ever.
Barrera had been there before. Looking like the second coming of Wilfredo Gomez after a give-and-take war with Kennedy McKinney in the fight that kicked off HBO?s Boxing After Dark series, Barrera was given a shock later in 1996 when he lost his WBO 122-lb belt.
Junior Jones exploited a hole in Barrera?s defense and dished out of a five-round beating that prompted the then-22-year-old to be rescued by his corner. One Naseem Hamed started to get chummy with Brooklyn?s Jones, and pointed out that Barrera just couldn?t avoid a right cross at the post fight presser.
?The Baby Faced Assassin? would go on to prove Hamed wrong, before getting his own back on the loud, tactless Brit. Having done his homework on Jones, Barrera slipped lots of right hands in their immediate rematch. But a tentative game plan and a point deducted for fouling made Jones a narrow winner.
Following his first ?double defeat,? Barrera would go on to achieve huge things and remain a pound for pound fixture for the next ten years. British viewers saw Barrera look as ruthless as ever with body punching in a London appearance vs. Paul ?Livewire? Lloyd and a beating of Richie Wenton on the Naz-McCullough undercard.
We weren?t surprised, then, to see him get the better of Erik Morales in 2000 although the judges got it wrong after 12 rounds of brutality that wouldn?t be equalled at 122-pounds until last year?s frenzied Somsak Sithchatchawal-Mahyar Monshipoor bout.
Despite dropping a split decision, Barrera carried on as if he?d won before making Hamed look foolish en route to a decision that looked a bit closer (116-111, 115-112 and 115-112) than it should have been, the following year.
It?s Barrera?s achievements in this tumultuous period that the no longer ?Baby Faced? Mexican must be judged by. In moving up to beat the #1 featherweight, Barrera had risen straight to the top from punishing bouts after many had written him off.
That he went on to outclass Johnny Tapia and Kevin Kelly in sharp displays following a controversial revenge win over Morales (at least the judges made them even at 1-1 after this 2002 rematch) would be the icing on the cake, for the man who ditched the title belts in taking on ?People?s Champion? status.
It wouldn?t last long, when Pacquiao relieved an unprepared Barrera of his standing, but already Marco appeared to be fighting with less than a full tank. After an 11 round battering, it looked over all over again but Marco would carve out a fine little title reign up at super featherweight.
The comeback with Golden Boy Promotions saw Barrera return to paying sanctioning fees (WBC variety) and fighting the favored Morales, who?d looked stronger than ever winning the WBC and IBF belts, in 2004. By contrast, Barrera once admitted he was a natural junior bantam who?d moved up the weights for the biggest fight.
With his back to the wall, Barrera gave his last great performance ? to take a skilled, intense majority verdict and nose ahead 2-1 of a great rivalry ? but had enough left to outbox Rocky Juarez (twice) and Robbie Peden (then IBF title holder).
Marco nearly beat Juan Manuel Marquez, but his friend ? who?d been denied the biggest bouts ? had more left and wanted it more. Barrera turned a polished boxing match into a great fight after scoring a crushing knockdown, but a blatant foul and a late fade marred his performance and he lost by weirdly wide scores last March.
Last weekend, we saw Barrera try, and fail, to lure Pacquiao onto that big counter right, which made an impression, but failed to hurt the Filipino in the fifth. We also saw him resort to the fouling when he made ?Pac Man? eat a right that was delivered when the ref was separating them from a clinch, which shook the Filipino badly.
It was clear in those two last fights that Barrera was using questionable tactics to overreach at a time when he was pacing his 33-year-old, slightly fleshy body. But Barrera has achieved far more than any expert thought he would have, which will surely allow him to retire a content man.
