Morales, Marquez, or Barrera?

He beat Barrera.

 

Robbed?

 

I can't split Barrera and Morales, not pound-for-pound or H2H. I used to think Barrera until I re-watched their 1st fight and realized that if it wasn't for the fake KD, I'd have had it to Morales by a point. **** it, it's too close to call. I give Barrera a lot of credit for his performance against Marquez, MAB was clearly well past his best and I think that fight could easily have went his way, it's pretty much the most difficult fight to score I've ever seen, and Barrera was denied a blatant KD.

Those two are well, well clear of JMM IMO, ability-wise and H2H wise. The JMM-MAB fight said to me that Barrera dominates Marquez prime-for-prime.

 

Marquez
Barrera (My Favroite of the 3)
Morales

All three are great boxers.

 

Marquez was also a little past his best against Barrera. He was nowhere near as quick and sharp with his punches or as nimble on the balls of his feet as he was against Pacquaio in 2004. Marquez was at his best at featherweight, even though the bigger fights eluded him in that division. He's been getting the bigger fights over the last 3-4 years and still a great fighter.

Prime v prime, Marquez edges it.

 

Morales on all things mentioned.

H2H - was never decisively beaten until the Raheem fight past his prime despite facing the best of the best his entire career. I had him edging the Barrera trilogy also.

Ability - Could throw every punch in the book & did so regularly, could box from the outside, fight on the inside, beautiful jab, great uppercuts, excellent straight right, good body puncher, brilliant feet, he had it all but neglected defense a bit too often to attack but we are all glad he did.

Record (resume) - Fought his way to the no1 spot in the 122, 126 & 130 lb classes legitimately by beating guys like Barrera, Pacquiao, Espadas, Zaragoza, Jr Jones, Ayala, Hernandez, Chavez, McCullough & a recent great effort vs huge favourite Maidana at 140 lbs - 4 divisions above his best weight, at least half the fans had him beating Maidana as well as Diaz for the LW title in 07, the judges didnt agree but we are all our own judge.

 

Barrera didnt beat Morales at their peaks in my view, maybe you scored the fights different, thats on you... Morales was/is better than Barrera but as said above, there is not a lot between all 3 men ability wise.

 

Thats a ridiculous statement to make, there is nothing much more to add.

 

i'm going to give morales a slight edge in resume and h2h. these 3 are so close, it's hard to argue for any of them. good topic.

 

Thankyou, I wish more people would sit their ass down & actually watch this fight rather han going with the common myth that Barrera was robbed... if anyone was robbed in that series of fights it was Morales in fight 2.

 

We've had several threads on general and classic trying to go over and separate these three and the only thing I've changed my mind about since first answering, that I can recall is that Marquez has gotten a little closer by his longevity at the title fight level, even though still well enough behind (imo), and that whereas I used to say the Pacquiao win was enough to rank Morales above Barrera, I've more recently leaned toward saying Barrera's overall career impresses me more and slightly edging it toward him. Barrera, Morales just under, Marquez steadily taking small steps toward them, in view but comfortably behind.

That's ranking their total careers. Actual H2H ability, I see them as extremely difficult to separate and all three bright, shining examples of fighters whose toughness and determination bring the casuals and skill level is enough to reel in the purists. These are hard men who really know their craft. Marquez's legacy is a few points on a few scorecards away from being drastically different, unfortunately for him. Some bad management and some absence of luck can take a great toll on a career.

 

One punch that Marquez throws on a regular basis that I've never seen Morales or Barrera, or any other fighter for that matter throw, the uppercut from long range.

I have seen thousands of fights and all the greats....Hagler, Robinson, Monzon, Whitaker, Duran, Leonard, etc. Never seen any of them once throw an uppercut from long range. Not once.