Just when it seemed the recognized world featherweight champion, Marco Antonio Barrera, was unbeatable, following his destruction of Nassem Hamed and subsequent victories, a series of events (a nasty split with his long time management team, the revelation that a plate was put in his head after a surgery but never reported, and a fire which broke up his training camp), but mainly one Filipino juggernaut – Manny Pacquiao – helped to bring down Barrera’s reign with an 11th round stoppage in San Antonio’s Alamodome three years ago.
Once more, as in the past losses, Barrera was all but written off by many who cited that the many wars, and wear and tear had finally caught up to him.
Fast forward, and Barrera not only came back, but he came back with a vengeance, once more defeating his arch enemy Erik Morales and snatching his WBC super featherweight title, beating up on Robbie Peden for the IBF version, and going on to look less than stellar in his first matchup against the game Rocky Juarez, but easily outmaneuvering the Texan in the rematch.
Barrera could have easily taken a tune-up fight to stay busy, waiting to see if his long awaited rematch against Pacquiao would come about. But instead, ‘The Baby Faced Assassin’ has gone right back into the fire, and much to his credit, will face Juan Manuel Marquez.
’Dinamita’ as Marquez is nicknamed, has been in the game the same amount of time as Barrera – 17 years – and the two-time world featherweight champion and current WBO interim titlist at 126 pounds is moving up for his second career-defining bout (along with his 12 round draw with Pacquiao in 2004).
Marquez, a magnificent counterpunching sharpshooter, has one up on Barrera and Morales, being the only one to come out without a loss on his record against the Filipino destroyer.
It will be a duel of skills, wits and machismo between the Mexicans tonight, with Barrera having the clear edge in terms of experience and having been in the 130-pound division for the last few years.
Both men have been down in their respective 17 year careers, with Barrera having been stopped on two occasions. Marquez has not, but then again, he has only faced a handful of top world class fighters, while Barrera has taken out a slew of them.
Barrera claims to be in the best shape, comparing this preparation to the one he had against Morales in their rubbermatch.
Having seen Barrera fight live fifteen times with three televised ones since his legendary war against Kennedy McKinney, Barrera has re-invented himself from a ‘Baby-Faced Assassin’ pressure fighter, to a skillfully stoic and cold master boxer in order to dismantle Hamed.
At this point in his career, a win over Marquez would only help Barrera cement himself among the top five (Chavez, Lopez, Sanchez) Mexican fighters of all time, with the long awaited rematch against Pacquiao waiting in the wings, and then it’s off and to Canastota on their first ballot in just four years more. A win by Marquez would finally earn him the respect of the general public and help him state his case as being one of the greats of the last 10-15 years.
But the gold shining at the end of the rainbow is the same for both warriors – a mega fight against Pacquiao for all the marbles, perhaps later on in the year.
This fight, along with the Rafael Marquez vs Israel Vazquez six round thriller, gives this month a true meaning of ‘March madness’, as it all finally comes down tonight, with both men’s future standings in boxing lore in the balance.
