*** The Marco Antonio Barrera super-thread ***

I think most would agree.

 

Yeah, bit of a hothead.

 

:thumbsup

That is what is remarkable about him. You got the sense that he was at heart always this scientific-minded boxer waiting to bust out - even back when he was pureeing guys like Toledo...and then after he made his transformation he still retained some of the brute.

So at every point during his career he really had that Jekyll & Hyde thing going on, where the destroyer & thinker just basically swapped places being the forefront or recessive mindset.

 

You know, since Morales officially got the nod that night I won't be covering that one in any detail here. (since this is a thread meant for general Barrera talk but primarily focusing on his seventeen best wins, and those are to be the subject of my weekly breakdowns) so if you want to have a crack at giving us your breakdown of Barrera vs. Morales I and your RBR scorecard whenever you get a chance that would be awesome. :good

 

#16 Marco Antonio Barrera Tapia vs. Daniel Jiménez

• This content is protected

Ecce homo. He aquí el hombre. 

Here, in all his glory, is the five year and five month veteran of the hurt business - at the peak of his burning hunger and having scaled the summits of his ambitions... resplendent in his poise as he finds himself, at last, challenging for a world title (his first time going the full Monty of twelve rounds for any prize).   "If I win I will walk away", he said.  Ostensibly to pursue a law degree, as his upper middle class family might have preferred in the first place.  

The hooded velour robe.  The classy Jimmy Lennon Jr.  Mexican challenger versus Puerto Rican champion on a stacked card in front of a (still-standing) record audience of 12,262 in what a nascent Southern Californian sports & entertainment venue whose popularity would endure for decades. If ever there was an occasion to plant one's flag on the face of the historical boxing landscape, it was this - you couldn't have scripted it better.

This was the inaugural boxing event at the brand-new Arrowhead Pond Arena in SoCal.  Although he was a popular fighter vying for a title, Barrera was rightfully buried deep on a card that also featured considerably more star-power in Genaro "Chicanito" Hernández vs. Jorge "El Maromero" Páez Sr. with additional world title bouts Louie "Sharpshooter" Espinoza vs. Alejandro Martín "La Cobrita" González and Humberto "Chiquito" González vs. Jesús Zúñiga further up the marquee.  Jiménez  vs. Barrera was but an hors-d'œuvre, on paper, the weakest link a championship triple-header...a titillating afterthought but afterthought nonetheless. It would steal the show.

In the first round Barrera wasted no time starting on his comprehensive heist of the crowd's attention, immediately cutting off the ring with the brash predatory confidence of a highway banditry capitán.  Incumbent titlist "Cobra" Jiménez was all pent-up energy, coiled in the manner of his namesake from the animal kingdom - but his first real strike of any import was an incidental (but nonetheless injurious) headbutt, drawing blood from the challenger early.  The gash enraged Barrera, who spun Jiménez from a clinch and clobbered him on the break - with only a mildly reproachful look from experienced but permissive-to-a-fault official Raul Caiz Sr.  A triple uppercut later found the mark for Barrera while his other arm was trapped.  He fought with the ferocity of a captive animal bred to slaughter its own kind and cooped in a cage half-starved its whole life.  10-9 Barrera.

"Remember the other fight where this happened", implored then assistant trainer Rudy Pérez & head coach Ricardo Maldonado.  Barrera was never visibly distraught at the cut, now bleeding into his eye until they expertly stanched the flow, but their words & tone had a soothing effect and steeled his resolve to show Jiménez that breaking his skin would be insufficient to break his will. 

A big double hook on the liver by MAB sounded off the second round like a gong.  He continued to apply super effective pressure,, trumping Jiménez's good defensive movement.  Barrera holds & hits and gets away with it, with nary a peep from the laissez-faire Caiz.  20-18 Barrera.

Jiménez is told he needs to "work the middle distance"; that is, don't lunge from too far out while at the same time not dying on the hill of climbing inside Barrera's "tree-line" and insisting on getting 100% in close.  They want him to walk a tightrope and move just enough to keep Barrera on the end of his punches. 

The Cobra heeds the corner advice remarkably well, boxing in closer and meeting Barrera halfway but not fully surrendering himself into the vortex.  Jiménez is working a strafe + shoot with a perfect straight right hand.   MAB puts in some good work late, but not enough to steal the round back.  10-9 Jiménez, 29-28 Barrera.

MAB now dusts off a superb jab, tamping Jiménez's forehead like a barista pulling a ristretto.  Jiménez is countering effectively but getting outgunned by the jab & body work of Barrera.  One particularly flashy sequence for Barrera sees him landing a right, dodging a jab and then landing a counter-counter two-piece with the right hand & left hook.  Barrera then follows up with a plunging right hand on the body and left hook up top while ascending.  10-9 Barrera, 39-37 Barrera

Barrera sparks up the fifth with a double jab and looping right.  Jiménez tries bulling in - a valiant try, but he's getting banged up in the bargain.  MAB is dialing himself clockwise, right glove held aloft to catch jabs, then uncoils to drop his right hand on the face of Jiménez. 10-9 Barrera, 49-46 Barrera.

Body slam to start the 6th, things getting rough & tumble. Nice diving body combo from Jiménez. MAB opens up with inside uppercuts and then pursues with heavy-bag-drill hooking combos up top. Point taken from MAB (loud boos). Good drive by Jiménez. Barrera now in God Mode, briefly switching to southpaw, bulldozing. Jiménez now turns southpaw. 9-9 (10-9 MAB -1). ** points from both, says Lampley?? 58-55

Really bad, fear-based pep talk for Jiménez in the corner. He comes out strong, committing to southpaw, boxing well. MAB is just lumping his jab into the guard. Jiménez pot shots with counter 2-pieces. 10-9 Jiménez 67-65 Barrera

Another strong beginning for Jimenez, landing big right hands. He bloodies Marco's nose. Uppercut flurries both ways. MAB taking over. Jiménez then regaining control. Both hurt. Jmenez got the best of it early & late. 10-9 Jiménez 76-75 Barrera

Tit for tat, both determined. Intelligently deployed bilateral violence. MAB tiring, getting hit. Bada-boom. Protect yourself at all times! 10-9 Jiménez 85-95

More paternal aggression in the PR corner. "You tell me 'yes, okay, yes', but then you do not do it!!!". MAB comes out nunchucking the guard. Jiménez is running. The jab of MAB is laser-guided, cutting the ring off, axing down with right hands. Jiménez is cornered and has to clinch. MAB whipping the body. Nice counter right by the champ but he can't deter the rabid Mexican. 10-9 Barrera 95-94 Barrera

MAB's corner is nervous, entering the unknown territory of the eleventh. "No importa..." - doesn't sound convincing. Evenly contested action, largely on the inside. Frequent clinches. Jiménez parrying on the backfoot. Body work by MAB consistent, with hooking flourishes up top as they split, "judge chum". 10-9 Barrera, close 105-103 Barrera.

Swinging hooks like the spring-waisted twisting action figures of the day. Many butts. Jiménez punching on the break now, no more Mr. Nice Guy. MAB dotting in right hands, knocking the Cobra back. MAB stretching/torquing on the front-foot, slipping jabs. Dominant pressure. Hands flying, no let up. Jiménez in flight. Go, MAB, go! Giant hook from 3' away, lands somehow. 10-9 Barrera 115-112 Barrera (same score as Lou Moret...with a wider 117-110 submitted by Harold Lederman and 116-111 from José Cobián)

He knows. You can tell by the alpha dog strut & posture. He's already champion in his own mind. He can now pursue a law degree. Nothing more to be done in this sport, right? Already embracing Maldonado while awaiting for what is now a merely academic formality, MAB simply raises his right index finger toward the rafters upon "and the new..."

As for the former champ, Daniel Jiménez had every reason to stand proud as well. He fought in fact quite well & didn't succumb to Barrera's grueling pressure - but it wasn't enough to meet the impossible standards of his liege, Trinidad Sr., whose pressure was less tangible but no less suffocating - nor to deny a mean, hungry young bull (about whom nobody then had quite an inkling of the greatness yet to come) what he then considered his legacy-defining Holy Grail conquest.

At this point the WBO had not even attained much credibility, but no matter. Barrera was a champion in more than name by this point, and his longtime dream was officially realized (with a dorky tourist hat and everything). He gives credit where due, saying Jiménez was "fuerte y dificil" (strong and challenging). He says he wasn't too bothered with the cut, explaining that his anger was more frustration with himself for having fought Jiménez's type of fight early. He didn't stress out about the cut as time went on because of the relaxing presences of Maldonado & Pérez. The latter would continue to be a reliable bedrock in team MAB through his many ups and downs ahead. Yes, if you weren't aware: the story does continue hence...to perhaps, to some unknowable extent, the detriment of the Mexican legal system - but to also certainly the benefit of its already rich pugilist lore. :yep

 

Um, when its time comes? :readthre:

Toledo & Jiménez were #17 and #16 respectively...your bonny prince is all the way up at #3, so buckle in, there's a long road to get there, a baker's dozen of gradation in quality before we get to Hamed. :good

 

#15 Marco Antonio Barrera Tapia vs. Jesús Yagin Salud

• This content is protected
• This content is protected

This was the first of three lifetime showdowns Barrera would ultimately have against denizens of the Philippines. To date, his opposition has been fairly homogeneous, comprised almost entirely (96%) of fighters hailing from the Western hemisphere, and furthermore 88% against fellow Latinos. Complete nationality breakdown of his 51 rivals prior to Salud, for anyone interested: Venezuela (1), Brazil (1), Dominican Republic (1), the UK (2), Argentina (3), Puerto Rico (4*), the USA (7* - 11 if you count PR), and Mexico (32).

Now, a word on the man known as "Hawaiian Punch" (having laid claim upon this moniker long before another Filipino-American champion named Brian Viloria came along to co-opt it and become perhaps more widely known under it...Salud having made his pro debut when Viloria was in diapers. Viloria wouldn't make his own pro until debut five months after Salud fought Barrera in his career's twilight...) - he was never blessed with the raw explosive athleticism of his countryman Emanuel Dapidran Pacquiao (at this point still yet to etch his name on the world scene, a 1-time champion who lost his belt via KO and had since - very recently as of December 2000 - gone life & death with Skinny Hussein) but he was a tough cookie, and whip-smart to boot. He came in with approaching two full decades' worth of professional experience under his belt - predating Barrera hitting puberty by a good couple of years - and yet had only been stopped twice - both on injury (his left eye having swollen completely shut in 1986 against Frankie Duarte, and his collarbone shattering against Mario Gomez thirteen months later).

Salud's class showed early on, as he recovered from a dominant opener by the machine-like reigning WBO super bantamweight champion, in which Salud was surprised by his power and seemed a little rattled. Salud went on to lose the second & third rounds clearly enough on Harold Lederman's card (and that of probably any disinterestedly conscientious party), but he was starting to establish a sense of timing, making Barrera pay for every moment of success with a steadily increase of counter-punches, from a trickle up to a cascade.

Things began taking a downturn in the fourth, when Barrera started to rev up the armor-piercing, semiautomatic left jab, finding Salud's face with it consistently while incorporating a great deal lateral movement than Barrera had previously been known for in 54 bouts. Barrera was still getting countered, but holding the very sharp-hitting and keenly alert 37 year old Salud to a mere 30% connect percentage while edging in on 40% himself and more than doubling his output with inventive and highly damaging combos working off the jab. Barrera succeeded in making Salud begin to look every bit the almost forty-something, and veteran of 510 rounds boxed in over 70 fights. The fifth went even worse for Salud, with Barrera feeling his oats and continuing to utterly disrespect Salud's deterrent shots and lighting him up with regularity, causing his face to swell up, and Lederman to award the rare 10-8 without a knockdown. In the sixth, a game Salud was already thoroughly defeated but was the last man in the Venetian Hotel & Casino to realize it, requiring three additional minutes of abuse from the newly reborn version of Marco Antonio Barrera, now and forevermore a boxer-puncher...past his initial "prime" and grown into a slightly less baby-faced yet altogether more cerebral assassin, thus more dangerous a h2h competitor than ever he was in the 1990's.

Interestingly, the next loss of Barrera's career - and his first official stoppage loss (with Jones I entering the books as officially a disqualification) - would come just a couple of weeks shy of two years later, when a young Pinoy buzzsaw named Manny Pacquiao made an example of him en route to p4p glory, just as Barrera - on the precipice of his star-making turn against Prince Naz - made one here against Pacquiao's aging idol.