More skilled: Juan Manuel Marquez or Marco Antonio Barrera

They fought once, in a great fight that displayed high level boxing skills. I personally thought it was a close fight that could have gone either way. JMM finished stronger but Barrera could have beaten JMM had he not lost a point and received the KD credit.

In terms of pure boxing skills who would you say was more well rounded / versatile? JMM showed how to handle a guy like Pacquiao with his brilliant skills but Barrera did show a bit more variety in his style.

 

I would say JMM but not by a wide margin. Weird I used to call JMM a poor mans Barrera prior to Fighting Pac and MAB.... not a wide disparity but I think JMM was slightly more skilled and more versatile against different styles. But I wouldn’t argue anyone who felt the opposite

 

Oddly enough I used to see it like this: JMM being a "poor mans" Finito Lopez but is more willing to slug it out, and Barrera being a "poor man" Chavez but is more willing to box on the outside.
Both different styles but equally great with their overall skills.

 

Both are accurate.

Thing is, Chavez was even better than Barrera as an outside boxer when he wanted to be. He was better than Barrera at literally everything.

I would Finito was better than Marquez at everything too... but Marquez had the stones to fight the best, while Lopez did not.

 

I do think Barrera was a bit quicker and had a better jab. Probably a better left hook too. Chavez was better at everything else.
Finito was better than JMM with his footwork, defense, jab, and power. JMM had better offensive tools such as combinations, in-fighting, and counterpunching. If he had fought a fighter like Rosendo Alvarez JMM would have had a much easier time IMO. Finito was the better pure boxer while JMM was the better fighter.

 

Marquez gets my vote. Barrera had a better left hook and jab but Marquez had the better right hand and uppercuts not to mention the better combinations and counter punches but Barrera was no slouch in those departments either.

Both had great IQ but Barrera was perplexed and unable to do anything with Pacquaio whereas Marquez mastered him. Marquez also fought a more wide variety of styles throughout their careers.

 

To keep it simple Marquez. More skilled versatile and well rounded. It's very very close but JMM gets my vote.

 

Random question
But
Do you think jmm could have beaten hamed any more decisively than Barrera did?

 

A great matchup. I’m going with my boy Barrera on this one.

 

I saw Barrera from his first fight in the US- his 22nd overall- right after his 18th birthday. Watching him grow, I always thought he was better than Morales and Enrique Sanchez, who were coming up at the same time.

Marquez, I saw in his 5th or 6th fight and he was good. I thought for a long time that he was better than Morales and Barrera and worried that he would never get his due. That has since worked itself out and I still think he was the best fighter of the group.

 

About the same, Marquez did best if you came at him because of his limited footspeed, Barrera was not quite as good as a counterpuncher And didn't have those creative combos but he was quite capable of hunting down and smashing a "mover"

 

Barrera.

 

Very close. As their fight. Liked JMM's jab better, so I'll go with him.

 

It's close but I feel like Marquez is a slightly better technical fighter, and also puts his punches together a bit better with more variety.

But Barrera is a better come forward fighter, and goes to the body better.

Not much to choose between as evident when they actually fought in the ring.

 

Obviously, they were both great but while I believe that even though Marquez was slightly more skilled, Barrera had that little extra something that puts him slightly ahead. Whether that something is grit, determination, pride, ego, ferocity or something else I don't know but, for me, it gives MAB a slight advantage.