Marco Antonio Barrera looks good in beating Arias at light welterweight

By Boxing News - 02/13/2011 - Comments

By Chris Williams: Marcos Antonio Barrera (67-7, 44 KO’s) looked good on Saturday night in moving up to light welterweight to stop 43-year-old Jose Arias (15-2, 9 KOs) at the Coliseo Olimpico at the Universidad de Guadalajara in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico.

Barrera, 37, dropped Arias twice in the fight, once in the opening minute of the 1st round and then another time in the 2nd. Barrera’s combinations and accurate punches were too much for Arias and the fight was stopped shortly after Arias was dropped for the second time.

It’s unknown whether Barrera will decide to stay at light welterweight and try to get a fight against someone like Amir Khan, Marcos Maidana or Timothy Bradley. Barrera’s options might be better if he sticks it out at light welterweight rather than continuing to fight at lightweight, where there aren’t too many options for big money fights.

WBA/WBO lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez is thinking about moving up in weight to light welterweight, so he may be sticking around at lightweight for too much longer. WBC lightweight champion Humberto Soto is a good fighter, but he’s not particularly popular and lacks a large fan following. Beyond that, there’s really not much of a reason for Barrera to stay at lightweight.

Barrera looked a lot better last night than the way that 34-year-old Erik Morales has been looking since making his comeback in 2010. Morales recently landed a fight with WBA light welterweight interim champion Maidana for April 9th. That’s going to be a big opportunity for Morales because if he wins that fight, he’ll be the WBA champion and will be in the position to get a big money bout against someone like Amir Khan or Timothy Bradley. Barrera might want to try and get some of the same action by fighting at light welterweight.



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