I did this on a different boxing forum a few years ago and Barrera had a slight edge. But now, considering Morales' comeback and fight with Maidana, also with him subsequently winning the WBC title, do you feel that Morales is now the better fighter? It is worth noting the cataclysmic rise of Manny Pacquiao and the fact that his last (scorecarded) loss was to Morales.
There is a big lean towards Morales here nowadays.I have Erik as one of my all time favourites and I admire the guy very much. But on a personal level,Barrera is the better of the two.When you have two great fighters in much the same era,it's rare nowadays to have a trilogy for reference. As long as it remains a trilogy it will always be 2-1 Barrera.
Morales was the busier fighter in fight number 1. He landed way more. Second fight, he boxed beautifully and won 8 rounds. Third fight should have been a draw.
Barrera was always a more complete boxer and though he didn't match up nearly as well with Pacquiao, likely due to his being more left-hand dominant, beautiful as his two-fisted combos were, he is still much more versatile and bested Morales in their series, and I think matches up better with history's best in their respective championship weight classes. But, I perfectly understand rating Morales higher, due to the huge Pacquiao win. I just don't lean that way, preferring Barrera's total body of work more. But, I've flip-flopped on that issue before. I may again.
Even before Erik's recent comeback I considered him greater by a **** hair. But it's easily debated the other way. Ability wise...they are close to par really, obviously MAB had his number but Erik handled other situations better.