Who has been the best featherweight this decade?

Not at all.

A close fight went Morales way in the first encounter. Most ringside observers felt Marco had inflicted more damage.

A close fight went Barrera's way in the return bout. Most ringside observers felt Morales had landed the cleaner blows over 12 rounds.

Barrera won the third fight, a decision only Morales' fans are comfortable with disputing.

I like how people spin everything. Just tell the truth.

 

:good I had MAB winning the third fight. It seems Morales underestimated MAB after Pac beat him up but that his fault.

 

When your talking actual 126 pound fights Barrera is 1-0 vs Morales and he defeated Ayala,Hamed,Kelly. Easily Barrera.

 

Perhaps, and also Morales went into the ring on fight night weighing 140+. It slowed him down. Let's get it right though. Morales had been campaigning at Super Featherweight beforehand, whereas Barrera had never fought at that weight before. He was coming off a loss to Manny Pacquiao, and was a 3-1 underdog. It was monumental victory. One of Marco's sharpest showings ever, and that's saying a whole lot.

 

Since we are talking about their career at featherweight I can only remember Marquez being downed by two fighters, Pacquiao and Norwood. Barrera also went down a couple times with Pacquiao and had earlier knockdowns in his career so these can't be used to prove the point you are trying to make.

JMM was always the more natural counter puncher and weaved at the waist and positioned himself better. It was at his fight with Pacquiao that for he first time trully got caught by big shots. His impressive footwork helped him avoid unnecessary punishment through his career with the half-step technique and the right lateral movement for counters.

Their fight at 130, even though both were removed from their best weights, was a clear demonstration that JMM was better technically than MAB.

Then there is also the best demonstration of their technical ability in the fight with their common opponent, Pacquiao.

 

Barrera or John.

 

Barrera

 

erm one question......Why doesn't Pacquiao get a mention?

 

I think it's also important to note that he suffered a knockdown up at Super Featherweight against Marco Antonio Barrera. I'm not trying to make an argument that Marco is necessarily better defensively, only that I've not seen much evidence to support the notion that Marquez was superior in this field. He suffered knockdowns, is not stranger to getting hit himself, and I feel a lot of it sometimes is due to inferior balance.

I find comparison almost redundant when you consider Marco was fighting elite competition much earlier than Marquez, who was badly managed as Featherweight and missed out on the marquee fights as a result. Marco took big shots because he was often in against educated, well schooled fighters early on (Mckinney, Morales, Junior Jones). Likewise, Marco started out as an offensively minded boxer-brawler, who was more than willing to take a shot to land his. Let's disregard Barrera's time at 122lbs.

Let's not pretend that Barrera and Marquez were at the same point in eachother's respective careers by the time they met. Barrera was on the slide, he'd been fighting at the elite level against P4P rated opposition for over a decade, whereas Marquez only really came into prominence as a result of the first Manny Pacquiao fight. Marquez is still going strong now, and I would argue, is actually more impressive as a Super Featherweight than he was when at 126lbs. It's no coincidence that Marquez has a tougher time when he is fighting tougher opposition. I think Marquez was close to the peak of his powers in '07, whereas Barrera was almost done at elite level.

The fight only supported that. No body work from Marco Antonio Barrera, his number one stock in trade, and he was fading down the stretch. There was no evidence of Barrera ever fading before that, he'd gone 36 rounds with Erik Morales, and pulled out a late victory against veteran Kennedy Mckinney. Some have accused Marco of being a front runner, but save that bull**** for the likes of Judah. Barrera was a 12 round fighter, no doubt. Marquez beat a decent version of Marco, but he was nowhere near what he once had been. His only fight at elite level after that was in a lopsided defeat.

Not at all. Manny Pacquiao is always going to handle a fighter who's predominantly a lefty. Marquez had much more success as a result of his superior right hand, a right hand much better than Marco's, and it was landing at will after he got through a few obstacles in their first fight. I take nothing away from Marquez, he is a warrior and an unbelievably skilled fighter, but let's not forget he was almost out of there in one round.

I don't think it's fair to talk about Marquez and Barrera as if their careers mirrored one another. They didn't. Whilst Barrera and Morales were dominating the lower weight divisions, Marquez failed to make himself a household name by fighting cautiously and losing a fight to Freddie Norwood. Marquez is every bit as good as those two, but he falls short in the pantheon of ATGs as a result of his lacking resume. Let's face it.

In conclusion, Marquez may be a tad bit more skillful than Marco - but there's a hair in it - at best. Marco was tremendously skilled himself, a multidimensional Boxer-Puncher-Brawler, who had one of the most impressive offensive arsenals this side of Julio Cesar Chavez. Marquez was a better combination puncher, I felt Barrera displayed superior balance, but I don't see much evidence of Marquez having a better defense. Styles make fights, just because he was more competitive with Pacquiao than Barrera doesn't prove anything.

 

He gets a mention, but all he achieved at 126lbs was beating Barrera. Other than that he threw away a fight he was easily winning against Marquez, and has just one other fight not noteworthy. Not enough work to topple Barrera, who beat the two best Featherweights in the world other then himself, both who were undefeated, P4P entrants. Marco based on achievements.

 

Barrera on achievements.

Also about who's better between JMM and Barrera. JMM struggled with Barrera a lot. Some people like to say Barrera was past it when he fought Manny. I mean what was he when he fought JMM then? Prime again? Barrera still came close to pulling it off.

I'm not saying that makes him better, but it's good to remember that.

 

Anyone who claims Barrera was prime in '07 don't know **** about the guy. He gave Marquez a very tough fight, but lost fairly clearly. The fact he put up such a good fight was a moral victory in itself when you consider we've seen Marquez' prime over the last few years. I think a match-up in 2001 would have been every bit as competitive, with Barrera edging a close one. It's debatable. That said, had Barrera not acted like an idiot and hit Marquez after the knockdown, he'd have gotten 10-9 in round 7 as opposed to the 8-10 against he recieved. That's a three point swing, and not a lot of people have the fight wider than three points. That's something to consider.

 

If you consider a 35-37 year old Marquez prime then I must question the knowledge on the guy.

The man was clearly at the peak of his powers as a young featherweight. It is solely because of his technical genius and determination that he has come so far.

Well, I don't believe I can convince you Addie, so to put myself back on topic Barrera has the most claim of being called the best featherweight of this decade in terms of accomplishments and wins over bigger names.

 

decade? pacquiao ofcoure

 

He's not in his prime physically, buy he's more of a finished article with all of the experience on his shoulders, and I think he learned a lot having fought Manny Pacquiao. In hindsight, that was a huge step up in class. Marquez was a terrific Featherweight, who didn't fight the best in the division until '03. I'm not saying he avoided them, but for whatever reason, fights with Morales, Barrera, and Hamed didn't come off. This certainly improved his longevity, I doubt Marquez be still around had he fought a war like Morales vs Barrera I twice.

And the fact he spent his physical prime fighting B level fighters, perhaps because the marquee names didn't really see him as a risk worth taking. Whereas Morales and Barrera were beating the living **** out of one another, Marquez was feasting on Derrick Gainer. You can see how this improved his staying power, surely?

You're trying to convince me that Marquez is superior to Barrera in terms of skill by a wide margin? If not, then there is no argument. Marquez throws straighter punchers, and does throw nice smooth combination's. His defense doesn't strike me as noteworthy though, no more than Barrera's does. We can all speculate on what would of happened had Marquez fought Hamed and Morales, but he didn't - Barrera did, and he gets the credit for it.