Marco Antonio Barrera vs Enrique Sanchez (Full fight)

I was referring to the lack of responses, Anarci. I expected a good insightful response from you, I know you've been around the block a bit. The stretch from Paul Llyod to Johnny Tapia, Barrera was looking close to unstoppable. A two fisted fighter indeed, who could work on the outside and the inside. There wasn't a lot he couldn't do, and although Sanchez was a well schooled fighter, he was in with a extra-ordinary fighter that night. Everything he threw was being countered practically, and he was out of range a lot.

 

Absolutely. Barrera could have won a title at Super Flyweight, I think he was in line for it just before he decided to move up to the 122lbs division. Bantamweight had Orlando Canizales reigning around that time at Bantamweight, and Barrera was good, but he wasn't good enough to beat Orlando at that time. Some of my favorite performances of him were before Paul Llyod actually. I think the way he beat Angel Rosario for his first fight back after the losses too Jones was wonderful. Brutal stoppage, I think I'll upload that for people to see actually. He looked great despite a lengthy lay off.

I just think after the two losses to Jones, there genuinely was improvements in all areas. His right hand came on leaps and bounds, never before would you have seen him countering with the right so effectively as he did against Sanchez. His defense notably improved, as he began to use more head movement. His jab too, became a much more prominent weapon. It ruled the night against Hamed and Tapia.

 

I prefer to watch this and his fight with Salud than the fight with Prince. I'm not as high on that as many other people. I think Barrera could have picked it up earlier than he did and maybe forced a stoppage. People didn't know then, but we do now, Barrera was on a different planet to Hamed...any version of Hamed. Wonderful performance, certainly among his best, but it's not my favorite fight of Marco's to watch.

Hamed aside, Popkins, I'd like it if you gave us some insight on the video at hand. Did you watch it?

 

I have about 60 Marco Antonio Barrera fights on DVD, including many of his very early fights at Super Flyweight. I'm talking his opening 20 bouts here. Barrera was a wonderful fighter before many people had even heard of him. Lightning quick hands, always had thrown in combination, and his power was devastating below Super Bantamweight. With that said, he had no chance against Orlando Canizales around 92-94, which would have been when Marco was likely to campaign at Bantamweight. Orlando was getting old, but it would have been man against boy in there.

 

Absolutely. It was almost as if he had never even lost to Manny Pacquiao. It was a testament to the character of the man. Ayala was small, and had taken a beating by Erik Morales, but Barrera showed he was still world class, countering at will, and barely taking a hard shot himself. The combination that ended it, oh man! Seriously. He parries a jab, ducks a power shot, and then unleashes a 5 punch combination, every shot landing, and finishes poor Ayala off with a liver shot. It was one of the best combination's of his entire career, a picture book ending. Beautiful.

My favorite Barrera performances in order:

1. Morales III
2. Sanchez
3. Salud
4. Morales I
5. Hamed

 

I know every single facet of the first fight from memory, I've seen it that many times. I have three different commentaries of the fight too, naturally, it's the best fight of all time in my view. That said, if you look at round 7 and 9, there are disputes as to who deserved to get the rounds. Barrera hurt Morales three times in round 9, but the majority of the action was dominated by Morales. I score it for Marco, but I posed this to the General ages ago, and a great deal of people thought Morales deserved it. That's where it became debatable. Marco was landing the harder shots, Morales was throwing more. I felt Marco won the fight.

I think the third Morales fight is the crowning achievement of Barrera's career. Not Hamed. Not many people felt Marco could still hang with Morales after the Pacquiao defeat, and with it being Marco's first fight at 130lbs, it was looking even more grim for Barrera. In the end, Marco puts on a beautiful performance by getting off first, and landing his signature combinations on Erik, who looked a little slow by his usual standard. Some of the things Marco did in that fight was beautiful. Throwing the uppercut off the jab, that three punch combination he landed in round 2...it was vintage Barrera. He seemed to always come out on top when the critics and the fans doubted him. That fight meant a lot to him, it sealed his legacy and in my view, separated him, if only slightly, from his nearest rival. Barrera was the only man to ever beat a prime Erik.

Exciting fight, wonderful performance. I could watch it over and over.

 

Holy ****. I can't stop any of my threads going off course. I think Marco did a lot more posing than was neccesary against Hamed, who's power is most surely overstated having knocked out nobody of any significance with the exception of maybe Kelley and Bungu. You might be right, for some reason, that's just not Marco's best ever moment for me. He has greater moments against Morales, a genuine world class operator.

Opinions on the video presented in this thread, Tin?