MARCO ANTONIO BARRERA: best resume of the past 15 years, other than Oscar?

Of the fighters who began their careers in the past 15 years or so, those who started on the paths to greatness as the careers of the 1980s greats like Whitaker and Chavez were winding down, has anyone other than Oscar De La Hoya had as good a resume as Marco Antonio Barrera?

In fact, does Barrera possibly have a case for having an even better resume than Oscar, when losses are taken into account? I think Oscar probably does shade it, but it's close IMO.

I think Barrera's resume is marginally better than Morales's, or anyone else around from the early 1990s til now.

Marco Antonio Barrera: The Resume 63 wins, 6 losses, 42 KOs

best wins

- Kennedy McKinney 1996
Fight Of The Year contender, Barrera defeats the excellent McKinney by flooring him multiple times on way to a stoppage win. McKinney stopped Junior Jones a year later

- Naseem Hamed 2001
Truly one of the greatest victories of the 21st century. Hamed was a feared KO artist and a top 10 p4p status fighter. Barrera moved up in weight and made a mockery of his underdog billing, as he outthought and outfought Hamed en route to a sensational UD

- Erik Morales 2002
Another incredible win, Barrera gained redemption for losing their 2000 clash by edging a victory here against a fellow legend

- Johnny Tapia 2002
Barrera confidently outpoints 3-weight world champion HOFer Johnny Tapia. It was only Tapia's 3rd loss in 57 fights, the other 2 being to Paulie Ayala...

- Paulie Ayala 2004
Fighter of the Year 1999, holding 2 wins over Johnny Tapia, Ayala had dropped a points decision to Erik Morales 2 years previously - Barrera dropped him 3 times en route to a 10th round TKO. Ayala never fought again.

- Erik Morales 2004
Rivals Hamed as MAB's best win. Barrera runs out the winner in one of the greatest trilogies of all-time, taking a decision over Morales in an incredible fight. Barrera is now a legend.

- Robbie Peden 2004
Unanimous decision win over a man who had stopped current lightweight champion Nate Campbell twice in 2 of his last 3 fights before meeting MAB. This was vintage Barrera, pushing hard for a stoppage near the end of an excellent performance.

- Rocky Juarez 2006
Barrera defied age to impose himself upon the younger, naturally bigger Juarez in their rematch. Juarez had given the older Barrera a difficult time in their first fight, but Barrera, in his last great performance, outboxed and outskilled a guy with wins over the likes of Zahir Raheem and Guty Espadas Jr on the resume.


losses

- Junior Jones 1996-7
Simply a horrible stylistic match-up for MAB. He was the Norton to Barrera's Ali, the Forrest to Barrera's Mosley (and Mayorga to Barrera's Forerst). This was confirmed when both Kennedy McKinney and Erik Morales stopped Jones in 1997-8.

- Erik Morales 2000
This fight was far far too close to be called a robbery or an injustice, but many (I included) thought Barrera edged this one. Even though he lost, Barrera impressed in this fight, giving the previously unbeaten El Terrible a torrid time when he was widely expected to lose.

- Manny Pacquiao 2003
Beaten by the better man in this one, quite simply. Dominated and stopped by a whirlwind of a challenger who would go on to become the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world.

losses when well past-prime

- Juan Manuel Marquez 2007
Barrera has shown in the 1st Juarez fight that he was definitely on the slide after a very long career by modern standards. Barrera was beaten unanimously, but again he impressed, flooring Marquez and being highly competitive against one of the world's elite.

- Manny Pacquiao 2007
MAB was clearly shot by this point, offering very little in an attacking sense as he was widely outpointed by his nemesis. No shame in reaching the final bell in this one, but the MAB of old has clearly gone for good.

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Barrera only lost 4 times in his pomp, 2 of those against the bad stylistic match of Junior Jones, a guy not in Barrera's league. His other 2 losses were to ATGs at their peak, Erik Morales and Manny Pacquiao.

His best wins were against Morales (twice) and Hamed - three magnificent victories.


I think of the last 15 or so years, only Morales has a resume of comparable quality, but I give Barrera a slight edge over El Terrible as Barrera won their series 2-1, even though I believe Morales's win over Pacquiao is a single better win than anything on Morales's resume. It is very close between these two, there is a case to be made for either man, but I go with Barrera.


Do you think there has been anyone over the past 15 or so years other than De La Hoya with a resume to match that of MAB??

 

Mab also has fought and beaten more champions than the other members of the FAV FOUR(Morales, JMM and PAC).

IMO he rates slightly ahead of all of them on the ATG list!

 

Even though Barrera beat Morales?
Even though Pac beat Morales more than Morales beat Pac?

Even though Barrera beat Juarez who beat Raheem who beat Morales?!

 

Absolutely no way. Tito has a very good resume, Barrera has a great one. I think Morales's res is better than Tito's too.