How Good Was/is Marco Antonio Barrera?

[madjabber]

How Good Was/Is Marco Antonio Barrera? Will he be seen as a once great fighter P4 pounder who fought past his prime or will he be remembered as a Great fighter who always took on the best possible opponents?

[hopkinsfan07]

a great fighter who had many wars

[brooklyn1550]

He is one of the best fighters of this generation and will be remembered as a great fighter and a great P4P fighter for what he achieved at super bantamweight, featherweight, and super featherweight. He was willing to face anybody and his wins over Morales twice, Hamed, Tapia, Ayala, McKinney, Kelley, Salud, and Juarez twice have earned him a certain spot in the HOF and he will most importantly be remembered as a warrior. If he beats Pacquiao (unlikely at this point), his legacy would skyrocket. I don't have him above Sanchez though who I believe is the greatest Mexican featherweight, but I rank him slightly ahead of Erik Morales (which could change if Morales beats Diaz) and ahead of Vicente Saldivar who is another great Mexican featherweight.

[KhanB]

He's one of my favorites. A certain HOF lock. Still one of the smartest boxers still fighting IMO

[Arthur]

he is good.
he was great.

[quintonjacksonfan]

No great fighter loses twice in their prime to Junior Jones.

[Robbi]

Barrera is one of the greatest Mexican boxers ever. I think he was more complete than Chavez. Both had great left hooks to the body, both were brilliant pressure fighters, but Barrera was a much better boxer, especially on the backfoot. He really became a seasoned brilliant boxer after Morales defeated him in 2000. I always think Barrera was a bit more fluid technique wise, with Chavez being more robotic and compact.

Up until Barrera was beaten by Junior Jones he was often compared to Chavez. It was around the mid 90's that Chavez really started to show his age, while Barrera was the new kid on the block making a noise as a super-bantamweight.

Looking at his last fight with Marquez, he's still a force to be reckoned with. No question about it. But Pacquaio's pressure, power, and ability to take a punch will be too much for Barrera when they square off on October 6th.

[Club Fighter]

Not good enough to be one of ESPN's 50 greatest fighters of all-time but, alas, somehow he made it.

To sum up his career, Jr Jones whooped his ass twice, Erik Morales whooped his ass once (twice depending on who you speak to), Barrera murdered Hamed into retirement, then whooped Erik Morales' ass, then (unfortunately) whooped Johnny Tapia's ass, whooped an old, shot Kevin Kelley's ass, had his ass whooped by Pacquiao, whooped Morales' ass once more for the road (but in between the Pacquiao loss and Morales win found just enough time to whoop the overrated Paulie Ayala's ass into retirement - who, to be fair, was stepping up in weight), then he decided to whoop Rocky Juarez' ass twice in a row just to show us that Rocky ain't that good (which we found out earlier anyway when the unheralded Humberto Soto easily whooped his ass), and then managed to get his ass whooped by a desperate Juan Manuel Marquez which somehow lines him up for a title shot in the fall against Pacquiao.

According to ESPN, that blurb that you just read somehow makes him the 44th greatest boxer to ever walk the planet.

[huki]

He is the ultimate complete fighter and an ATG. On the outside, he has a perfect jab, can counter punch beautifully, and has great footwork. On the inside he has a great left hook to the body and can brawl with anybody. Also with these skills, he has a great chin, a warrior's heart, and he's still one of the smartest fighters today. It doesn't get much more complete than that.

Although I'm excited about the possibility of Barrera finishing his career on the highest note possible beating Pacquiao, I am worried that he will get KO'ed in his last big fight and on paper to future fans of boxing, the Marquez fight will look like a fight he got dominated in and clearly lost.

[john garfield]

No great fighter loses twice in their prime to Junior Jones.

That's what you reduce MAB's career to, qj? Did you scour Boxrec for that? On any given night Jones could take out anyone. He was a two-time world champion.

The sign of a great fighter is how he came back from that with a vengeance...And he's still a force to be reckoned with.

[Vantage_West]

No great fighter loses twice in their prime to Junior Jones.loads of great fighters lose to one man,anyways poision was a beast tall hard to hit thats a good guy to lose to

[KhanB]

Im a huge MAB fan but i'll try and be unbiased. Yea, its true Junior Jones beat him but before that Barrera beat Kennedy McKinney in a classic that i think was the first Boxing after Dark event. That fight was basically as good as the first Barrera/Morales fight. I havent heard anybody give my boy props for that. And theres also the performance against Hamed.

[brooklyn1550]

Barrera is/was an OK boxer. I think he is being over rated a little bit.

An OK Boxer? Barrera is one of the most complete/versatile fighters I have seen in my lifetime.

[Robbi]

I've always been a Barrera fan, and favoured him over Morales when they fought. But Marquez in my opinion is a better fighter. Marquez is an under-achiever, which shows what I think of him when it comes to talent. He done very well as a featherweight, becoming the IBF/WBA champion, and captured the WBC super-featherweight title from Barrera, but he should have been in the mix with Barrera and Morales 5 or 6 years ago.

I think a prime Marquez would have beaten a prime Barrera.

[brooklyn1550]

I think a prime Marquez would have beaten a prime Barrera.

I agree that Marquez is the most talented out of Morales, Barrera, and himself and that he is an underachiever. He doesn't have nearly the resume's of Barrera or Morales.

How do you see Morales-Marquez at 126 going with both at their best at that weight?

[Robbi]

I agree that Marquez is the most talented out of Morales, Barrera, and himself and that he is an underachiever. He doesn't have nearly the resume's of Barrera or Morales.

How do you see Morales-Marquez at 126 going with both at their best at that weight?

Thats a very tough fight to predict. I'd go with Marquez, but he'd have to get up from a knockdown to earn the decision. He got up from three knockdowns against Pacman, and once against Barrera to pull out wins. Lets not forget, he took some flush punches from Pacquaio during the 2nd round, and managed to weather the storm. His sharp punching and slick defense really took off after the 2nd round. And against Barrera he weathered the storm during the 8th and 9th rounds, to come back and dominate Barrera clearly during the 10th, and win the 11th and 12th rounds as well. No reason to suggest he could not do the same against Morales if he hit the canvas, same applies to if Pacman and Barrera can knock him down, so can Morales.

Barrera and Marquez are very similar type in terms of style. And we know how close the Barrera and Morales matches were. I thought Barrera won the first fight, and the third fight, and you could make a case for him winning the second fight as well, although it was disputed.

I feel Marquez has enough in his arsenal to beat Morales by 2-3 points, even after getting floored along the way.

I thought Marquez was punch perfect against Peden. He really gave that kid a serious lesson. He picked his punches like a master, and mixed in some lovely boxing with power punching. He hit Peden with a left hook to the body with about 10 seconds remaining at the end of the 10th round. Peden sagged from the effects of the punch, and took some more, the went back to his corner to violently puke blood into a bucket. It was gross. End of fight.

[Fedor Em]

A boxer who had no major flaws in his prime, complete is the word when you talk about a prime MAB. Very good power, very good chin, great defense, great stamina, great speed, supreme counterpuncher(even when he got hit with a shot he was capable of countering that punch so fast), the man had it all, hell he is still an elite fighter(though not prime) and considering how long he has been boxing that is unbelieveable. Any man that can hold his own against Juan Manuel Marquez when he has been boxing since about 88-89 just proves what world class fighter he is.

[robert ungurean]

A great fighter.

[Robbi]

3v6cpfF8D_U

Brooklyn. Here is a good clip showing Marquez' wide variety of punches from either hand. He wobbles Jandaeng with a left uppercut, then later in the round after a serious assualt from both hands, floors him with a left uppercut.

Just before the stoppgae he floors Jandaeng with a right uppercut, immediatley followed by a big overhand right. Thats not a combination you see very often in boxing, right uppercut/overhand right.

Many fighters are only comfortable throwing an uppercut from one hand, Marquez from either side no problem.

[jopez707]

One of the greatest Mexican fighters ever. One of the ten best fighters of the last decade or so.

[brooklyn1550]

3v6cpfF8D_U

Brooklyn. Here is a good clip showing Marquez' wide variety of punches from either hand. He wobbles Jandaeng with a left uppercut, then later in the round after a serious assualt from both hands, floors him with a left uppercut.

Just before the stoppgae he floors Jandaeng with a right uppercut, immediatley followed by a big overhand right. Thats not a combination you see very often in boxing, right uppercut/overhand right.

Many fighters are only comfortable throwing an uppercut from one hand, Marquez from either side no problem.

Thanks man!:good

I saw this a few months back, but watching it again helps me to remember just how good Marquez is...he's a beautiful boxer, a great counterpuncher, and a guy who is willing to fight you toe to toe. He is a master with uppercuts...the combination with the two left uppercuts was awesome.

[acb]

Barrera was the complete fighter. He is one of my favorites so I am biased. But I will tell you this, when I saw him fight live (even on a so so night against Juarez) it was like watching a virtuoso, he adapted so many times during that fight and could do so many different things in the ring.

On top of that he was tought as nails.

A great fighter I would say.

[Oscar de la Roa]

I read an article at ring`s magazine once that barrera is known as the most balanced fighter in the sport, I think it was october 2006 edition

[jyuza]

I read an article at ring`s magazine once that barrera is known as the most balanced fighter in the sport, I think it was october 2006 edition

That's awful. Morales is much more balanced than Barrera.

[the_what]

Only behind Roy Jones and Felix Trinidad as the greatest fighters of my generation.