Barrera vs Morales III - Thoughts

I sat down and watched Morales vs Barrera I and III back to back last night, curtosey of my Barrera career DVD's.

Without question, their first fight is one of the greatest fights most of us have ever witnessed. It doesn't have the blood of Gatti vs Ward, or the knockdowns of a Corrales vs Castillo, but the intensity of the action and the exchanges are hard to beat. It's the best fight I've ever seen, along with Corrales vs Castillo, and although some people claim Barrera deserved the decision, it was really a two way battle from start to finish, and either man could have been given the verdict. Shame about the knockdown, but it didn't seem to sway it in Barrera's favor regardless.

I heard someone say that they fought Trinidad vs Mayorga should have been given FOTY as opposed to the rubber match between Morales and Barrera. Personally, I couldn't disagree more. In terms of action and intensity, this fight has no business being mentioned in the same breathe as their first fight, but my god, what a great fight it was. The technical skill exhibited by both men is levels above what they showed previously I believe, and there was still enough toe to toe exchange to leave us all in awe. i have a lot of affection for this fight in particular, because the quality of the action is so high, and both fighters, despite neither of them being at their physical peak, putting on another unbelievable display of courage and will to please us fans.

How do you remember this fight? I wouldn't argue with anybody who says they didn't think it was that great, because the action wasn't sustained, but I wouldn't argue with people who said they liked this fight as much as the first. This is one of those rare fights that has lots of toe to toe action, but is also technically on a higher plane to teh majority of FOTY's in recent times. That's my view. I absolutely love their third fight.

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I didn't think Barrera was as good as this in his fights after or before it either. They both just brought the best out in eachother.

I had Barrera winning 1 and 3, with the 2nd going to Morales. They are even, as far as I'm concerned.

 

I'm not sure.

I think Barrera vs Morales III should go down as one of Barrera's finest ever performances. He was razor sharp that night. and at times, looked spellbindingly good with his three punch combinations. Morales came on from about round 7 onwards, landing his right hand counters, but Barrera silenced the critics after this one. In fact, the more I think about it, this was probably Barrera's greatest performance against the greatest opposition.

 

They are both real dudes.

If there was one boxer I would never **** with, it has to be MAB. Against Mckinney, he took no **** in the press conference. When Prince was using rough house tactics, he got some back tenfold, and whenever he got the slightest idea that somebody was disrespected him, boom! Headshot.

Gotta love MAB.

 

It's always been one of his signature shots, but where I think his right hand was most prominent in the 1st fight, his left ruled the roost in the third. It's a credit to Barrera's arsenal, that he can mix it up so well.

If you look at the contrast in the Barrera at 122, to the Barrera that moved up to take on the likes of Hamed, Tapia, etc. it's almost like watching a different fighter. He would draw mistakes from those guys to counter them with combination's to the head and body, whereas in the early days, he would open them up himself with flurries, and try and overwhelm them.

I think he knew himself that he would be shortening his career as well as being less successful if he was to try and brawl with the bigger guys.