AMIR Khan is the fighter who had too much of everything before his dream of invincibility was derailed by a little-known Colombian six months ago.
Not for the first time, Khan’s chin looked like it was made of Dresden china, and he was knocked out in one minute flat by an opponent who punched his weight.
No, Bolton’s young megastar hadn’t been caught cold.
This was an accident waiting to happen as Amir, his defence flawed, gambled recklessly on a quick win himself, and paid a high price. Suddenly, boxing’s imperial horse had thrown its Olympic horseman!
After the departure of Hatton and Calzaghe from his famous London stable, nobody could have felt the pain of Khan’s eclipse more than Frank Warren. Show it? Not ‘Mr Ice-Man’ Frank.
Khan was still his No.1 meal-ticket. If Amir’s glittering career, and earning power, were to be swiftly resurrected, it would have to be against somebody guaranteed to bring out the best in him. Even if it meant recruiting a past-tense champion like Marco Antonio Barrera nearly 18 months after he retired from the game.
That’s how long it has been since Barrera last threw a punch in anger.
Before then, however, this 35-year-old Mexican had been a standard-bearer for his warrior race, an all-time great who TWICE figured in world-best ‘Fights of the Year’, both times against fellow-countryman, Erik Morales, and had lost only five times in well over 60 contests before biting off more than he could chew against the fierce-fisted Filipino, Manny Pacquiao.
The first fight between these two had ended in the most emphatic defeat (rsf 11) of Barrera’s illustrious career, but the return match, and Marco’s last contest but one, went to a points’ decision despite ominous signs that he was on the slide.
He still burned courage and brass-knuckled aggression, but eased back on the throttle too often, working hard for only one minute of every round.
“It wasn’t always like that, I assure you,” recalls top boxing writer, David Kelly.
“If his first bout with Morales ranks as one of the greatest toe-to-toe slug-feasts in championship history, their rubber match, too, was a classic.
“You had to concentrate like a heart surgeon to score all three Barrera-Morales fights.
?It was like watching two contests in the same ring as punches from all angles landed simultaneously. The ebb and flow of battle was electric.”
There was never much love lost between the two Mexicans.
Morales, a hitter who could box, had outgunned Wayne McCullough in the autumn of ’99, but got a smile from lady luck when awarded a split-decision over Barrera universally acknowledged as a “stinker.”
The fight had been a thriller, however — out of the same kiln as Graziano and Zale, wrote one American critic — with nobody as yet aware that warhorse Barrera had just had brain surgery, and was fighting with two metal plates in his skull.
It was about that time the high-rollers of Las Vegas paid Naz Hamed a cool $6 million as favourite to beat the Mexican, but law student Marco had the last word.
“Hamed was flashy, full of ego, and postured a lot,” says Barrera, “but I skewered him good and proper. This was the richest featherweight contest in boxing history, and defeat for Naz was the last straw. He hung up his gloves soon afterwards.”
Barrera has often been likened to Sanchez, Olivares and Cesar Chavez, the pick of all Mexico’s greats, but is he still the knife-sharp counter-puncher that reduced Hamed from Ziggy Stardust to the Man Who Fell to Earth, as somebody once put it?
Surely, not after 18 months in retirement, and with so many bitterly fought wars under his belt.
Five years ago, Barrera would have taken Khan out in four or five rounds, but age and time may have slowed him down, mentally more than physically.
He’ll try to bully Amir, firing off wicked body shots at close range, a repeat of the tactics that cut Hamed down to size. And at 9st 9 lbs, the husky Mexican will be bull-strong at the weight.
Clearly, this is Khan’s acid test, the toughest hurdle he has ever tackled.
Instead, of exposing his weaknesses, however, Barrera may serve to underline his strengths. Hopefully, we’re about to find out!
