Tomorrow in Cordoba, ten-rounder way the hell up at welterweight. Idk what the motivations are here (money, I'd wager) but this seems like a...not very good idea. He was last in action in 2010, granted on a three-win streak, but against meager competition (not horrible, just...well short of world class) at domestic level buffering him from his last defeat, on a championship rounds cuts TKO, by Rocky Juárez in 2008. As it stands, the Hyena lays claim to a very rare distinction in addition to having been a WBO super featherweight champion - he fought three HOF level talents in their primes, on fairly even terms, and reached at least the opening bell of a twelfth round with all three of them (stopped by Acelino Freitas in the final minute; and dropping a SD to Joan Guzmán before he met Rocky). Of his four career defeats, three were elites and the outlier (an early fluke DQ against César Emilio "Pirucho" Dómine) was avenged, by KO. Why mess with a perfectly decent legacy? Adailton De Jesus Conçeiçâo is only a year Barrios' junior, and has been absent from the ring himself nearly as long - since 2013. Still, the Brazilian glass cannon is the sort of guy, with all due respect to him, that Barrios would have annihilated with ease in his prime. It would be a shame to see the proud Argentinian warrior humbled in defeat at the hands of so lowly a foe, just by way of being rustier & more shot.
Yikes. Whether its a mid life crisis or a money grab (I agree this is more likely) this is a bad idea. Barrios had a lot of fights and with his face first style he soaked up a whole bunch of damage.
Barrios is a ****ing madman. Love that guy. Saw him fight 2 of the 3 HoFers and he gave an excellent account of himself both times. I loved his freakish ring entrance vs El Popo and was his fan by the end of that fight. I thought he was gonna' get the upset but then Freitas landed the big bomb and Barrios was doin' the Judah dance. If he spent all his money and needs cash, I hope he can get what he needs with minimal suffering and if he's just coming back for the glory, then then the first sentence of this post is validated. WAR BARRIOS!!!
You would have to think the weight wont be to much of an issue seeing he was damn near a middleweight come fight time.
Having had a chance to think about this more, I've remember what a crazy career this guy had. I remember he beat Janos Nagy on the undercard of the first Barrera vs. Juarez fight. Barrios basically broke Nagy in half with his first punch, a left hook to the liver. It was over in like 19 seconds with Barrios landing 1 punch, having only thrown 1 punch, while Nagy didn't land anything, so it was a fight where one guy had a 100% connect ratio and the other landed 0%. The fight with Freitas was obviously madness, a fight of the year contender that is unknown to those who came along after it happened. Barrios fought great but Popo was rescued by his brilliant right hand. Freitas was a lightning rod among fans for his behavior and his tendency to bail out of tough fights, but you can't deny that right hand was anything other than depleted uranium. That was fight was truly surreal. The weirdest thing about Barrios' career was the change of events that started when he deflowered unbeaten prospect Mike Anchondo live on ESPN. Anchondo came in about 4 pounds overweight, losing to Barrios. Three fights later Barrios badly missed weight before losing to Joan Guzman. Then Guzman was puking blood apparently from a failed weight cut before fighting Nate Campbell in his next fight. Then Nate Campbell missed weight before fighting Ali Funeka. I don't want to fat shame anyone, but its sort of like Mike Anchondo released some sort of ongoing fatness curse that lasted for years.
Omg... Don't get too excited about the Hyena still "having it", guys...this is maybe the worst stoppage I've seen in years, since Calzaghe vs. Manfredo perhaps...or even worse: This content is protected De Jesus was rocked mildly off-balance from a jab and stumbled on his rear heel but was immediately (and rather obviously fine) when the ref inexplicably waved it off.
Pretty sure that was before they opened the doors but I doubt it’s packed from wall to wall with anxious spectators
According to the RBR on the twitter with that video clip, De Jesus was getting the **** kicked out of him so maybe the ref thought he was being protective but yeah that’s the worst stoppage I’ve seen in recent memory, not sure I’ve seen a softer one honestly lol
