By Bal Kang: Sometimes the winner of a trilogy between two fighters doesn’t necessarily put him above the loser in an all time rankings list. Marco Antonio Barrera ‘The Baby Faced Assassin’ and Erik ‘El Terrible’ Morales gave us some of the most memorable moments in modern day boxing history. As you all will be aware they fought three times with Barrera taking the trilogy 2-1.
It’s not their actual three fights against each other that I want to focus on here but where would they be placed in an all time rankings list in comparison to each other?
Would Barrera be higher than Morales or vice versa?
Marco Antonio Barrera began his career back in 1989 weighing 115lbs, he managed to win world titles at Super Bantamweight, Featherweight and Super Featherweight as it stands his record is a very impressive 73 fights, 65 wins, 43 by way of knockout, 7 losses and 0 draws.
Erik Morales began his career approximately four years later in 1993 at 121lbs, and just like his arch rival he too managed to win world titles at Super Bantamweight, Featherweight and Super Featherweight, his record to date is also impressive with 54 fights, 48 wins, 34 by way of knockout, 6 losses and 0 draws.
Both of these two Mexican greats have an equal fan following and both have great animosity towards each other. So when we put both on the table I’m sure you can imagine it causes quite a stir.
I followed both of these guys leading up to their first encounter back in 2000, I remember very clearly their first bout against each other which totally captivated me as I’m sure it did everyone else, Morales won via Split Decision, but it could have gone either way, what a fight!
At that point in time their were rumours of a certain Prince Naseem Hamed possibly fighting one of these two, I remember making a statement after the first Barrera vs. Morales fight, after watching these two warriors go at it, I had no doubts whatsoever that which ever one Naseem Hamed decided to fight he was not going to be victorious, there’s no way the ‘Prince’ could beat either Barrera or Morales, that was my adamant view.
When analysing these pair the fight fan has to obviously look at common opponents and the quality of opposition, also the manner in which they won or even lost.
Let’s start by looking at the most recognisable names on Barrera’s CV, we have Junior Jones, Kennedy McKinney, Naseem Hamed, Agapito Sanchez, Enrique Sanchez, Johny Tapia, Kevin Kelly, Manny Pacquiao, Paulie Ayala, Robbie Peden, Rocky Juarez (fought twice) and Juan Manuel Marquez.
For Morales’s CV the familiar names are Junior Jones, Juan Carlos Ramirez, Wayne McCullough, Kevin Kelly, Daniel Zaragoza, Guty Espades Jr (fought twice), In Jin Chi, Paulie Ayala, Jesus Chavez, Carlos Hernandez, Manny Pacquiao (fought three times) and David Diaz.
Now, not for a single moment am I suggesting that all these names are greats or destined for the Hall of Fame, because any real fight fan will know where to rank these opponents in boxing history. It will be you, the readers who will deicide, but I want to pick out a few angles as to how this can be viewed.
Morales beat quality opposition such as Wayne McCullough, Kevin Kelly, In Jin Chi, Paulie Ayala, Jesus Chavez, Daniel Zaragoza, Carlos Hernandez, and Manny Pacquiao. Barrera’s victories over quality opponents read as follows: Kennedy McKinney, Naseem Hamed, Johny Tapia, Kevin Kelly, Paulie Ayala, Rocky Juarez (twice) and Robbie Peden.
Another way to look at this would be to suggest how their opposition would have fared against each other, for example, would Jesus Chavez have beaten Kennedy McKinney? Would Naseem Hamed have beaten Carlos Hernandez?
Then you have common opponents such as Junior Jones, Paulie Ayala and of course Manny Pacquiao. It is here we take a closer look at things, both defeated Paulie Ayala, Morales by Unanimous Decision and Barrera by KO two years later, Barrera lost to Junior Jones twice and to Manny Pacquiao twice, whom Morales has wins over. This area like any when comparing two great fighters comes under close scrutiny, Barrera fans might say Morales fought Jones approximately two years later and then the flip side to that coin is Morales fans will say that ‘El Terrible’ knocked Jones out in four rounds.
We all know one of Barrera’s defining moments came on the night when he thoroughly outclassed Naseem Hamed, but if you are asking me how would have Morales have gotten on against Hamed then my answer to that question would be equally as well if not better, styles make fights and I think Morales may even have put the ‘Prince’ on the canvas once or twice.
Morales who was practically born in a ring is/was a fantastic boxer who simply chose and preferred to brawl, Barrera who began as a brawler decided to extend his career and chose to box clever later on in his career and very effectively.
As we all know it stands 2-1 in favour of Barrera against his arch rival, however we have an ‘X’ factor and that’s Morales’s win over Manny Pacquiao.
The die hard fight fans will know that Pacquiao had some distractions leading up to their first encounter, but equally Freddie Roach himself admitted they ever so slightly underestimated Morales at that point in his career, but equally acknowledging that Morales fought brilliantly that night. After their own trilogy both Morales and Pacquiao had earned each other’s respect and went onto do a very good Beer commercial together, some Beer named after a certain Miguel, I imagine
I prefer to remember these two modern day legends when they were in their primes, I except the end of their careers is hardly befitting of their incredible achievements, but very rarely do fighters bow out at the top, there’s a desire and fire that burns deep within that tells them they can do it, one last time, and you will be hard pressed to find any person that has the desire, heart and fire of these two class acts.
Everyone has their own personal preference and favourites for whatever reason.
My intention is not to end this debate, not at all, this debate is never ending and rightly so, these two great modern day warriors should be talked about in many years to come, and they will!
So I ask you all to raise your Tequila shots to Barrera and Morales, I’ll raise mine too, but just ever so slightly higher for Erik ‘El Terrible’ Morales.
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