Do you think it would be a gradual beatdown? Or a fight where Barrera was competitive? Perhaps taking the worst of it and then he gasses and was taken out?
Definitely favouring Nelson in this. Barrera was stopped twice in his prime, Junior Jones and Manny Pacquiao. Jones executed him with accurate straight shots, shots he was able to overcome against Morales who had every advantage over Jones so I tend to think MAB would have won a trilogy fight against Jones, either way Nelson didn't fight like that. Pacquiao blistered him with foot and hand speed bouncing and ambushing never allowing MAB to set himself and ultimately overwhelming him. Nelson didn't fight like that. I dare say the closest style that MAB faced was against Marquez in a fight he lost very closely and aside from a fit of anger might not have lost at all. I do think Nelson is the superior technician due to his defensive guile and whilst he did seem to knock out those you wouldn't expect I can't see him landing a huge left hook on MAB. I see this being a points affair where Nelson gets the edge. Maybe 8-4
Could Barrera in 1997 have dismantled Naz??? I believe Barrera was still honing his skills during the Jones fight.
I believe he learnt a lesson that night. He improved massively in the rematch, more so for the Morales fight. It could be said that a champion is honing their skills right up until retirement. MAB was prime for the duels with Jones but he did improve after those fights without question.
True, but you reach a point where your attributes decline and cannot compensate. And for Barrera I don't believe he reached that point until after the third Morales fight. I believe the Jones KO shows that Barrera's chin wasn't granite. But I consider that up until the year 2000 Barrera had basically only had McKinney on his resume and not much else.
Definitely competitive early and mid. But Azumah had a better chin and was stronger and more rugged which would be the difference late.