31 Years Ago Today: Marco Antonio "BabyFace Assassin/Barón" Barrera Tapia vs. Eduardo "Lalo" Ramírez

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The upper half of the card was dominated by a Mexican trio whom most of the attending locals in the Los Angeles inner suburban ring probably recognized as good, but maybe without realizing just how scorching hot a ticket it would prove to be in hindsight. All three were in mismatches, with MAB himself the only member to have not yet officially entered the ranks of world contender. The underrated Gabriel Ruelas had recently tried and come up just short in his first encounter with Azuman Helson, while future Hall of Fame inductee Humberto "Chiquita" González already had two WBC light flyweight reigns under his belt.

Combined these men were already 95-4 heading into the night. Ruelas was good, Chiquita very good - and Barrera of course was on his way to becoming a true great.

This didn't even come near registering on my

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outlining MAB's top 17 career victories - and hell, you could double that number and it might not scratch 34. But we're talking of legend whose résumé bears so much longevity and depth that even a number like 34 only accountrs for about half of his triumphs - and even this far down, the quality isn't too shabby. Lalo probably fits near the upper end of the bottom half of the W column for MAB - and still, was at that stage of his career exactly the right stepping-stone for Barrera.

This was Marco's fourth bout at the Great Western Forum of Inglewood, of what eventually would become ten in a storied formative homestand. It was also his first title beyond domestic level, the vacant NABF super flyweight championship.

This led to a WBC super flyweight eliminator versus Carlos Salazar just eight months later. Unfortunately, this opportunity would be squandered as Barrera - despite taking an MD over Salazar - came in heavy on the scales. It was only a temporary setback, as less than a year later he would enter the history books - albeit two divisions up and under the auspices of a different org.

This relatively unrefined version of Barrera - who could already box some, with his educated jab and even switch-hitting at times - was in these days used to almost everyone put in front of him crumbling from his unrelenting thumping power set up by vicious body attacks. Only two men had previously taken him the full twelve round distance, bookending his run as Mexican national super fly king (Joséfino Suárez in the capturing, and then journeyman banger Noe Santillana in his 5th defense in an out-and-out war). Ramírez had a baker's dozen losses already but had only been stopped thrice, and had picked up a reputation in Mexico for being a tough spoiler.

Ramírez was never in the game on points, but was also no shrinking violet and didn't fold under the fists of his aggressive Ciudad de México crosstown rival. Valuable flight time was logged here, and you can already see the combination punching experimentation that would come to define Barrera throughout his lengthy prime starting to emerge.