‘He was one of the only fighters I remember who wore a suit and tie to our fighter meetings,’ said Merchant. ‘And he would be alone. He didn’t need an echo chamber of managers or an entourage. He was a man of substance, as well as a fighter of substance.’ HBO’s Jim Lampley was an unabashed Barrera admirer; some clever fellow could make a funny video loop of Lampley describing Barrera as ‘among the classiest fighters I’ve met.’ He said this nearly every time Barrera fought on HBO, until it sounded as if Lampley was talking about some suave character on a Dos Equis commercial.
Barrera was certainly unique among fighters, not only in that he studied law at La Salle University in Mexico City, but also in that he didn’t come from the sort of crawling poverty that spawns most boxing champions. Indeed, his father worked in the Mexican film industry. Two uncles brought Barrera to a boxing gym when he was 7, and he liked the nervous feeling he got when trying on a pair of gloves. As he progressed through the amateur ranks, his family members would jog with him in the early morning hours to keep him company. It was perhaps this warm, well-off background that irritated his archrival, Morales, who came from the decidedly meaner streets of Tijuana.
Three times they fought, and though Barrera has two official wins, many still argue about the verdicts, especially of the first two bouts. What no one argues about is that the Barrera-Morales trilogy was one of the fiercest in boxing history and that the acrimony on the part of Morales was very real and deep.
‘The first fight with Morales was a hard, thrilling fight,’ said Merchant. ‘I don’t remember a more intense fight. There was a social and psychological battle going on between them that fascinated me. It was a personal rivalry, with personal things at stake. I recall Morales, in particular, saying, ‘He’s not in my class,’ which can have many different meanings.’
Morales may have been piqued that Barrera had found his early stardom in Los Angeles, not Mexico. Perhaps it was merely a geographic rivalry of Mexico City v Tijuana.
Or maybe he resented Barrera’s style, which combined power with finesse, whereas Morales always looked like he was attacking opponents with a hatchet.
Or maybe, most likely, he resented Barrera’s very existence. After the fans and the press had given up on Barrera being the new Chavez, Morales was thought to be the heir apparent. When the two collided in the ring, they seemed to be fighting for the championship of Chavez, or as Dr Ferdie Pacheco once said of the Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier wars, they were fighting for the championship of each other.
‘There is always respect between fighters but things are always the same between us,’ Barrera said in 2012. ‘He just doesn’t like me.’
Barrera wasn’t innocent, though. He matched Morales’ barbs and nasty behavior with his own. Moreover, both fighters would be chastised in today’s more delicate climate. These days, ESPN would devote a half hour of SportsCenter to whether the two should be fined or punished for some of the things they said about each other. Times have certainly changed. Fifteen years ago, anyone trying to persuade Morales and Barrera to be more politically sensitive would have had better luck catching a bull with a butterfly net.
With Barrera and Morales it may have been a simple case of, as they used to say in movies about the Old West, the town wasn’t big enough for both of them. Here’s hoping the IBHOF will be big enough, as Barrera will be inducted in June 2017 and Morales is a lock to join him there soon.
As for being the next Chavez, it’s an old line that doesn’t mean much any more. Sportswriters looking for a headline brought it up and fans found the idea tasty. If the comparison bothered Barrera, he didn’t let on.
‘It was a high bar to jump,’ said Merchant, ‘but Barrera did pretty damned good.’ The Ring online article Don Stradley, ‘Hall of Fame Class of 2017: Marco Antonio Barrera’
On This Day: Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales opened one of the deepest grudges in boxing history: ‘You can’t beat it – two ruthless, cold-eyed, dark-haired punchers, both respected champions who will give and sacrifice all to win. This 12-rounder possesses the key ingredients to produce a match as fiery and full of passion as any past all-Mexican showdown’.
So said Boxing News ahead of the super-bantamweight unification clash between Tijuana’s WBC ruler Erik Morales and Mexico City’s WBO boss Marco Antonio Barrera. And how accurate that description turned out to be, as the two proud warriors went toe-to-toe for 12 brutal, uninhibited and electrifying rounds. Not even a hotly disputed conclusion could take away from the captivating carnage that was on show.
In the build-up, Morales had claimed that he floored Barrera during a sparring session many years previously. The ‘Baby-Faced Assassin’ said it was a slip and he had been knocked down ‘only in Erik’s dreams’. The hostility between the pair was evident even before the first bell, with no touching of gloves taking place until the final round.
Barrera won a lively opening session and also took the next stanza, his left-right-left hook combination proving particularly effective. Rounds three and four proved the calm before the storm, as from the fifth onwards it was all-out war.
While Morales was always busier throughout, the more explosive punches came from his rival. Barrera responded to a bombardment of overhand rights in the fifth by lashing back spectacularly and shaking Erik, leading to a deafening roar of appreciation from the raucous crowd.
Barrera fought in spurts in rounds six and seven, while a tiring Morales jolted out jabs and stiff rights. ‘El Terrible’ found himself in trouble on the ropes in the eighth, with Barrera cracking left hooks into his foe’s ribs. Boxing News commented, ‘How Morales, such a thin man, remained upright is testament to his incomprehensible toughness’.
The unbridled ferocity continued into the ninth as two hooks from Marco Antonio crashed against his adversary’s jaw. Incredibly, Morales fired back with a string of crushing rights that opened a gash on Barrera’s swollen left cheek.
The man from the Mexican capital walked through a powerful right-left from Morales in the 10th and had to suck up a lot of punishment until the final minute of the round, when a counter onslaught caused Erik’s legs to quiver. The bloodied and bruised Morales hit back with rights and uppercuts as the rivals exchanged blows.
Barrera’s inside work was hugely impressive in the 11th but Morales refused to give ground. A knockdown was wrongly called in the final session as Erik slipped to one knee while ducking a hook. Keen to redress the balance, Morales threw himself at Barrera and the pair went at it until the last bell.
Although Erik edged the fight on punches landed (319-299), there were constant swings in fortune, with both boxers getting tagged on numerous occasions. The general consensus at ringside was that Barrera had done enough to claim the verdict. But it was Morales who took the controversial split decision. Boxing News online article 19 February 2019 Paul Wheeler
53) Erik Morales I ***** Lost SD Points 12: US Fight Commentary
v Erik Morales I 19 February 2000 WBC Super-Bantamweight [r1] … Barrera is going on the attack … a solid left hook … [Morales] lands the right uppercut … back comes Barrera to the body … Right hand by Morales … They trade in the middle of the ring … Both fighters have their moments … [r2] … Hard right hand by Morales … one-two combination by Barrera … vicious right cross … what a fight … Back comes Morales … goes downstairs … Right cross by Barrera … [r3] … Left hook to the body again by Barrera … backs him up against the ropes … Morales comes back … Here comes Barrera; here comes Morales … [r4] … Barrera fires away with both hands and they will trade again … Four punch combination by Morales … [r5] … Lots of toe to toe action … Morales begins to land the right hand … Blood pouring from the right nostril of Morales … Some kind of action … [r6] … Close fight … Good right hand by Barrera … left hand … Morales the hunter … back comes Barrera … [r7] … Barrera with another combination … Here comes Morales … Unbelievable action … [r8] … Both guys can take big shots … Big right hand [Barrera] … another … and a left hook … Back comes Morales … right hands … They trade right up to they bell … [Lederman: 76-76] … [r9] … Big left hook from Barrera … Morales comes back with a right hand … The Morales rally … What a combination by Barrera … [r10] … Three straight right hands by Morales … This will stand the test of comparison … [r11] … followed by a big right hand from Barrera … more body shots … The long right hand lands from Morales … An unforgettable war … [r12] … Hard right hand by Morales … Barrera going forwards … two left hooks … And there’s the first knockdown of Erik Morales’ career [‘not a punch’] … What a fight … I think Barrera won it … [114-113 Barrera, 114-113 Morales, 113-112 Morales] US fight commentary
57) Naseem Hamed Points 12: US Fight Commentary TV -
v Naseem Hamed 7 April 2001 IBO Featherweight Nevada [r1] … [Barrera] A left hook upstairs … He [Haseem] looks off-balance … Big left hand by Barrera … [r2] … Right hand body shot by Barrera … Hard left hand [Naseem] … Right hand and a left by Barrera rocking Naseem back … [r3] … Smiling at Barrera … Barrera lands a right hand … [r4] … Big left hand by Barrera … [Naseem] throwing one punch at a time … Barrera landed the more telling blows … [r5] … Good left to the side of the head by the Prince … A quick [Barrera] combination … he’s able to pop Nas with it [left jab] … By left hand by Prince Naseem … [r6] … Barrera is doing the boxing … landed a right … huge left hand … [Lederman 57-57] … [r7] … Barrera with a right to the belly and a left upstairs … big right hand to the body … goes to the chin … Hard [Naseem] shot with the left … [r8] … [Barrera] jab, jab … Right to the body by Prince Naseem … [Barrera] left cross … The Prince will be out of business … [r9] … Left hook to the body [Barrera] … left hook upstairs … big left hook … [r10] … The Prince is not throwing that left hand at all … getting hit too frequently … and Barrera comes back … 28 out of 30 writers picked Hamed … The combinations have been thrown by Barrera … [r11] … Hard right hand by Barrera … huge right hand … [Naseem] exposed by a well-schooled boxer-puncher-brawler … [r12] … Look at the right hand by Barrera … going for it … big left hook … Can there be any doubt? … [115-112, 116-111, 115-112 Barrera] US fight commentary