Marco Antonio Barrera says he’s ready to confound the critics again by beating Manny Pacquiao.
The ‘Baby-Faced Assassin’ will start as underdog when he meets the Pacman in an eagerly-awaited rematch in Las Vegas on Saturday night.
He was battered to an 11th-round stoppage defeat in their first meeting back in 2003, and says this will be his last fight.
Many critics believe he’s booked for another defeat, but Barrera has heard that before.
After two defeats by Junior Jones and a punishing loss to Erik Morales he was seen as damaged goods before stepping in with Prince Naseem Hamed in 2001.
But Barrera came back to produce a masterful boxing display en route to a comfortable points victory.
And after that stunning defeat by Pacquiao he again rolled back the years to decision Morales in their rubber match in 2004.
Now Barrera is hoping to make the critics eat their words one last time.
He revealed: “More than anything it’s the motivation that gets me up for these fights. The motivation of the nay-sayers, the people that are putting me down; they say that I’m out. I like to shut their mouths. It’s happened in the past – they criticise me.
“They told me that I’d been done, but I’ve come back and I’ve shut their mouths. They say they’re the experts in boxing. Just because you watch boxing doesn’t mean you’re an expert. I like to prove them wrong and this fight gives me the chance to do that again.”
Pacquiao is on the brink of top spot in many P4P lists heading into Saturday night’s bout, but Barrera still feels he can provide a shock.
He said: “Sometimes experience beats a young guy that’s at his peak. And that’s what I have. I have a lot of experience. And it’s not whether I can get up to my A game or to his level. It’s about using my experience and doing my plan of fight and that’s what’s going to help me be victorious.”
As is usually the case in boxing, there’s talk of a potential rubber match if Barrera is victorious on Saturday night.
But right now the Mexican great says this will definitely be his last superfight.
“I’ve made up my mind. My mind is set. This is the last big fight I’m doing. If I do lace them up again after this fight, it’s going to be for a retirement fight and it’s not going to be against a top-level guy.
“I’ve had so many tough fights in my career, I’ve decided now that this is the last big fight I’m having.”
