On February 19th, 2000, fierce rivals Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales engaged in a memorable battle inside of the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nevada. Despite entering the contest at only 26 years of age, Barrera was already thought to be on the downside after a pair of losses to ‘Polson’ Junior Jones but on this night he would resurrect his career with an inspiring and gutsy performance against his Tijuana foe.
For twelve rounds Morales and Barrera belted each other across the ring in front of an arena full of rabid partisans, keeping them on the edge of their seats nearly every second. Controversially, Morales would walk away with a split-decision verdict in the type of fight that didn’t really produce any losers. It was a special kind of battle, a showcase of what the sport of boxing is all about.
<--- Slideshow: Candid images of Marco Antonio Barrera throughout the years
Barrera and Morales and would meet two times thereafter, with Barrera edging his foil out via decision in June of 2002 and November 2004. Although Barrera has fought eleven times since, it can be argued that the last fight he truly took our breath away was his rubber match with ‘El Terrible’. Sure, he was solid in outmaneuvering and outclassing guys like Robbie Peden and Rocky Juarez and gave a fine account of himself against Juan Manuel Marquez in a losing effort in early 2007 but in the third Morales fight he was special.
Over six years and a few tough losses later and Marco Antonio Barrera is still at it, aiming for a title in a fourth weight class. Barrera suffered a one-sided loss to reigning WBA junior welterweight champion Amir Khan a few years back, a fight in which he was severely beaten to the punch before seeing the bout head to the cards due to a nasty gash above his left eye, and has since reeled off a pair of victories near the 140-pound division.
Barrera isn’t a laughing stock by any means but at 37 years old he simply doesn’t possess the incredible work rate, parented attack to the body, or ability to hang like he used. Which makes it even more alarming when hearing that the next fight for the Mexico City foe could be a showdown with newly-crowned WBA lightweight king Brandon Rios, still fresh off of his electric 10th round knockout over Miguel Acosta last weekend at the Palms Casino in Las Vegas.
Brandon Rios may be a bit flawed but he makes up for his deficiencies with a brazen, straightforward nature inside of the ring that is highlighted by his physically-imposing strength on the inside and ability to hack away and break his opponents down. For all of Barrera’s craft and guile, this is just the wrong kind of fight for him.
In the sport of boxing, veterans often hang around much longer than we would prefer. Some feel that Barrera should have called it a day after his second defeat to Manny Pacquiao in late 2007, a fight in which he was somewhat timid and couldn’t pull the trigger. But the fighter in him has kept him going and a guy like Rios would welcome an opportunity to meet the legend with open arms.
There has been a lot of memories left by Barrera over the years and he has often found a way to produce his best stuff when his back is to the wall. A visit to Canastota will surely be awaiting him when all is said and done but an assignment against Rios makes me slightly cringe, as I ask myself ‘How did it come to this?’.
