The only way to illustrate perfectly the magnitude of Manny Pacquiao?s 11-round slaughter of Marco Antonio Barrera is to look at the credentials of his Mexican opponent.
There was the near-immaculate record of 57-3 won-lost; a 15-year professional career without being kayoed; a post-brain surgery match count of 16 fights with a 15-1 record; a body that had taken on the mitts of division titans such as Junior Jones, Erik Morales, Johnny Tapia and Naseem Hamed; and the reputation bestowed upon him by ring aficionados as one of the world?s three best fighters, pound-for-pound.
And all his accomplishments, which are further magnified by the fact that he chose to ply this career route despite having bourgeoise roots, simply meant one thing — that Barrera excelled in something he had a passion for, in something he truly loved.
