POUND FOR POUND - JC CHAVEZ or BARRERA ?

theres no disputing that Chavez is number one but Barrera owns Morales.

 

Boxing ability at long range. Not even remotley close. I could give you a few instances, but I'll stick with one; Barrera-Jaurez II, when he exclusively used the left jab and lateral movement to win on points. Chavez boxed early in his career, briefly. Not enough to be known for his boxing though. Chavez was a come forward stalking type, a controlled and patient brawler. The same can't be said of Barrera who was versatile from fight to fight with his approach.

Chavez wasn't as versatile as Barrera.

 

well said.he also has a better defense than Chavez and he puts the combination togheter much better than Chavez. hes also faster .

 

I don't think Barrera had better defense than Chavez, or even as good.

To be honest, Barrera will never be rated exceptionally highly with me because of his performances against Pacquiao, and a general lack of adaptability, despite the fact that he switched up his general style toward the latter half of his career. He was supposed to be near or at his prime in the first bout against a clearly less skilled opponent who had yet to reach his own prime, and he got completely blown out of the water. He simply never showed any ability to adapt with Pacquiao, though the rematch can be more easily excused as he was clearly past his prime there (even though I thought he looked good against Marquez prior). Even Morales rates higher for me because of his performances against common opposition like Pacquiao (who he was even further shot against) and Junior Jones, another whom Barrera was unable to adapt to in two fights.

I think Chavez was a much better fighter.

 

To be fair to Barrera he had personal problems in the first Pacquiao fight. It came out through the press of the metal plate inserted into his skull during the mid-90's, also the forrest fires at Big Bear which hampered his training as he had to move to Mexico. Perhaps Pacquiao always had Barrera's number, but he wasn't right in that fight. Excuses get made for Duran in the Leonard rematch. He lacked fire and it clearly showed in his performace. Same goes for Barrera. In his very next fight against Ayala he looked as good as ever.

Chavez also lacked adaptablity against Taylor. I give Chavez credit for coming on strong and his punches taking their toll down the stretch on Taylor. Afterall Chavez won the fight. And against Whitaker he looked clueless. And I watched the first Randall fight not to long ago. Randall won that fight rather handily IMO. And against De La Hoya, he was murdered. Past his prime yes, but he was still fairly decent fighter.

Chavez was the better consistent effective fighter, but Barrera had more tools and was more versatile and well rounded.

 

Barrera would have looked even more clueless against a Taylor or Whitaker level opponent than what Chavez did. He couldn't handle Junior Jones, Whitaker would make an utter buffoon of him. Taylor would just plain outwork and outscore him for an easy points decision.

Both Morales and Barrera are great fighters, but they are a long way off Chavez in a pound for pound debate imo.

 

Barrera can do things closer to what Chavez can do than the otherway around.

Watch Barrera fighting Sanchez, which was the fight after Hamed. A durable southpaw he was in there with and he broke him down with sheer surgical precision. He timed his jab over Sanchez's and threw every punch in the book smoothly. His versality that night was a sight to behold. Chavez could not do it 'like that'. Yes, Chavez picked his punches well, jabbed his way into punching range, threw to the body like a demon, had underrated defense, etc........But he's not as versatile and well rounded as Barrera.

IMO Chavez from a technical standpoint is limited compared to Barrera. He's more robotic in terms of how he threw his shots. That alone explains my whole opinion. All the versatile fighters in history weren't robotic and mechanical.

 

Well said.

There are a few more similarities between the two as well. Their first two losses both came against fighters far less great then themselves... Jones and Randall.

 

And Hamed fits into that one where exactly?

 

Barrera's the better counter puncher, jab and move, tighter defense and use of distance

 

1. And i have Barrera winning all 3 fights, the only 1 he comes closing to winning is the second. Most had Barrera winning the first, I had it 9-3 plus the KD

2. NO NO NO, Hamed was P4P top5 and featherweight king, massive win and Hamed sparks Morales for my money, Mkkinney was top3 and . Yes Morales has Pacman and Junior Jones, but if it wasnt for the Hamed win neither Barrera or Morales would have the same fame

3. Did I forget to mention Barrera was a champ from 1995-2007, Morales was a champ for much less time from 1997-2004, thats 5 more years Barrera has been at the top. Barrera has been linear champion, Morales has never been linear

 

gotta be Chavez.

 

Chavez is better than Barrera. So is Salvador Sanchez, and Ruben Olivares. I'd have Barrera around 4th, same sort of level as Carlos Zarate, Vicente Saldivar. IMO, Barrera is a greater fighter than Morales, and greater than JMM as it stands just now.