It still baffles me that Jones beat Barrera. He was fragile and Fenech would get inside his reach and pummell him for a mid rounds stoppage win.
It's simple, it was just a case of him having the better fighters number similar to Barkley-Hearns and Randall-Chavez.
At the stage that Randall met Chavez, Chavez was not better than Randall. Chavez had declined from his peak and Randall, while older than Chavez, had had less wear and tear. Conversely, Barrera was peak when Jones beat him. I think Barerra may have been too technical. He should have been more aggressive.
The obvious answer has Fenech mauling Jones and at some point cuffing him to the canvas for a stoppage defeat. Fenech was too relentless, and had the size and strength at 122 that Jones wouldn't be able to bully him and keep him at distance like he did some opponents. A little element of doubt is what would happen if Fenech walked onto the kind of right hand that dropped Barrera, but Fenech's durability issues only seemed to emerge at higher weights and later in his career.
I thought Barrera was too defensive in the rematch and fought Jones' fight. He may well have been carrying the mental scars from the first loss.
I am with you. I remember Jones-Barrera I like it was yesterday. I was absolutely SHOCKED that Jones stopped Barrera. At the time I considered it one of the most surprising title fight results since Douglas-Tyson.
