By Chris Williams: While Amir Khan (19-01, 15 KOs) has caught quite a bit of flake lately for choosing to take on a fighter as accomplished as Marco Antonio Barrera (64-6, 43 KOs) for a bout on March 14th, the same question in reverse could be put to Barrera. What on Earth is he thinking in fighting a lightweight as fast and talented as Khan? Forget about Khan’s history of chin problems for a moment, and consider what would happen if Khan isn’t knocked out.
That’s really Barrera’s only chance in this fight. He either knocks Khan out or takes a major beating from him. Barrera doesn’t have the speed, power or size to beat Khan by a decision and has to hope he can hurt him. What does Barrera gain in fighting him?
With a number #1 ranking in the World Boxing Organization lightweight division, Barrera hardly needs this fight. Indeed, Barrera is poised for a title shot against WBO champion Nate Campbell, and a fight with Khan at this point seems more a distraction from that.
I doubt Barrera would have any chance at beating Campbell, but it would at least give Marco a good payday in losing. However, a good payday is exactly what Barrera will get in a fight with Khan, which is probably why Marco is willing to travel to England and fight him.
The fight will likely garner a lot of attention in the media in England, guaranteeing a sell-out crowd and creating a lot of television viewers for the bout as well. It would likely be a PPV bout, even though Khan has no title and has still yet not challenged for a title at this early stage of his career.
Barrera’s reasoning for this fight, beyond money, is probably that he’s in a win-win situation due to his advanced age. If he loses to Khan, then Barrera probably won’t be judged nearly as harshly as he would have been otherwise because he’s considered to be over-the-hill by many boxing fans.
At 34, he’s well beyond his best years and seems to have stayed several years too long in the sport. If Khan beats him, Barrera can point to his age as an excuse. Also, coming up from the super featherweight division, Barrera is considered small for the lightweight division.
If Khan beats him, what does it prove? It’s not easy to move up in weight and it usually take a little time for a fighter to get adjusted to getting hit by the bigger fighters. That will give Barrera another excuse to use should he lose to Khan.
On the plus side, if Barrera can beat Khan, then it will increase Barrera’s worth as a fighter immensely while at the same time, increase his chances at getting a bigger payday in his fights beyond. Due to his age, Barrera would get a ton of credit for beating a fighter as young and as fast as Khan. Additionally, a loss for Khan would probably effectively end his boxing career as a serious competitor.
This, in effect, would give Barrera credit of having beaten too quality British fighters – Naseem Hamed and Khan – and doing tremendous damage to their careers in the process. While technically Barrera didn’t send Hamed into retirement, since he fought one more time after their 2001 fight, but Barrera sure didn’t help him any by beating him by a one-sided 12-round decision.
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