LAS VEGAS — Marco Antonio Barrera has been a part of so many important and memorable fights during his 18-year professional career that sometimes it’s hard to remember them all.
There was his 12th-round knockout of Kennedy McKinney in the epic 1996 fight that made Barrera a star.
There was the unforgettable trilogy with rival Erik Morales that played out from 2000 to 2004, with Barrera winning the series 2-1.
There was his 2001 stunning upset of Naseem Hamed.
And there was his exciting first fight with Rocky Juarez last year.
“Will To Win” TV lineup for the “Will To Win” HBO PPV card Saturday night (9 ET) from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas:
? Junior lightweights: Manny Pacquiao (44-3-2, 35 KOs) vs. Marco Antonio Barrera (63-5, 42 KOs), rematch, 12 rounds. Referee: Tony Weeks. Judges: Jerry Roth, Glenn Trowbridge, Tom Schreck.
? Featherweights: Steven Luevano (33-1, 15 KOs) vs. Antonio Davis (24-3, 12 KOs), 12 rounds, for Luevano’s title
? Super middleweights: Librado Andrade (25-1, 19 KOs) vs. Yusaf Mack (24-3, 12 KOs), 12 rounds
? Junior welterweights: Steve Forbes (32-5, 9 KOs) vs. Francisco Bojado (18-2, 12 KOs), 10 rounds
— Dan Rafael
There were also some crushing defeats along the way — back-to-back losses to Junior Jones in 1996 and 1997, a surprisingly one-sided 11th-round knockout loss to Manny Pacquiao in 2003 and a close decision loss to Juan Manuel Marquez in March.
Through it all, you could always count on the next big fight for Barrera, who won world titles at junior featherweight, featherweight and junior lightweight. But now Barrera, 33, is in the twilight of his career.
He knows the end is near. Very near.
Although Barrera has vowed to win his rematch with Pacquiao (44-3-2, 35 KOs) Saturday night (HBO PPV, 9 ET) at Mandalay Bay, he says it will be the last big fight of his career, and perhaps his final fight period. For more than a year, Barrera (63-5, 42 KOs) has talked openly about retiring at the end of 2007.
“It’s a decision I made. I basically am planning to retire,” Barrera said. “It’s not a decision I made overnight. It’s been within the last three years. I’ve been thinking about it. I’ve talked it over with my wife, with my family, with my friends and it’s something that I really want to do.
“I just feel that I’ve been in this sport for so many years, 26 years, 18 as a (professional) fighter and I’m ready to pass the torch. Pass it on to fighters like (junior lightweight titlist and good friend) Edwin Valero. All those guys out there that are calling out my name that want to fight me, let Valero fight them.”
Bob Arum and Oscar De La Hoya, who are co-promoting the fight, believe a Barrera victory would set up a rubber match.
“If Barrera springs the upset and beats Pacquiao, there is no question that Oscar and myself will talk to the fighters about doing a rubber match,” Arum said. “It would be insane not to do such a big fight.”
Barrera, however, said that won’t happen.
“I’ve made up my mind,” Barrera said. “This is the last big fight I’m doing.”
He did leave the door open for a farewell bout.
“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,” Barrera said. “I’ve had so many tough fights in my career. I’ve decided now that this is the last big fight I’m having.”
And with that said, Barrera plans to make it memorable by gaining revenge. “I have to save the best for last,” he said. “I’ve had good nights. I’ve had bad nights. And this particular fight, yes, I’m going to have to do that.”
Barrera rips Roach
Barrera is no fan of Freddie Roach, Pacquiao’s trainer. When Barrera and Pacquiao met in 2003, Roach questioned the way Barrera’s hands were wrapped before the fight and he had to have them re-wrapped. Roach said that he will be paying close attention to the wraps again before Saturday’s fight.
When questioned about Roach’s tactic, the normally stoic Barrera ripped into the famed trainer.
“Freddie’s not a good trainer,” he said. “He shouldn’t be worried about me. He should be worried about Pacquiao. Worry about your own guy. This is not the first time that I’ve fought in Vegas. I fought in Vegas a lot of times. I’ve never had problems with my wrap. Everything’s been great. You know what? He’s not a very good trainer. Look what he did to Oscar (De La Hoya). He helped Oscar lose (to Floyd Mayweather in May). Look what he did with Israel Vazquez. Israel Vazquez got knocked out.”
Roach defended his position on Barrera’s hand wraps.
“I don’t think hand wraps have anything to do with my training ability, but I feel that he wraps excessively. And when Manny fought him in Texas, we complained to the commission. The commission was in my favor and said that it was not a legal wrap. And so we just made him wrap legally. So, you know, Marco, I’m taking care of my fighter and making sure that you don’t break any rules.”
Arum’s theory
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum has a theory about why heavyweights Vitali Klitschko and Oleg Maskaev have broken down with injuries. Both withdrew from fall bouts with back injuries.
Arum said he believes many fighters from the former Soviet Union used steroids earlier in the their careers and that it has caught up to them.
“You’re going to see, at least for the next few years, a lot of injuries occurring in training to those fighters who were raised in the Soviet system,” Arum said. “The reason for that is, as young athletes, they were fed steroids and their bodies are breaking down from the steroids. That’s why I’m not surprise at Maskaev’s injury. I’m not surprised every time Vitali Klitschko gets injured because that’s the worst thing that a kid can do is take steroids. They have an effect later in their career and certainly later in life.”
Maskaev, a U.S. citizen originally from Kazakhstan, has never failed a drug test in his career. Klitschko, of the Ukraine, tested positive for steroids prior to the 1996 Olympics, which is what kept him from competing.
Calzaghe congratulates Pavlik
Super middleweight Joe Calzaghe (43-0, 32 KOs) has a huge unification fight in front of him against Mikkel Kessler (39-0, 29 KOs) on Nov. 3 (HBO, 9 p.m. ET) in Cardiff, Wales, but he also sees newly crowned middleweight champ Kelly Pavlik as a future opponent. So, Calzaghe took time out of his training camp to congratulate Pavlik in the wake of his stunning come-from-behind seventh-round knockout of Jermain Taylor last Saturday night.
“Good show, Kelly,” Calzaghe said. “There is no doubt who the real middleweight champion is after (Saturday). The true world champion met the true No. 1 contender, and that’s the way it should be. Now that Kelly has conquered his division, I would like to invite him to Cardiff for my fight against Mikkel Kessler, which will also serve as my formal coronation as king of the super middleweights. If Kelly is a true champion in search of new territories to conquer, he need look no further than Millennium Stadium on Nov. 3, where the crown heads can meet to discuss the terms of battle.”
