Barrera vs. Morales Part II - In The Hands Of The Judges: Do Two Wrongs Make A Right?

By Frank Gonzalez Jr.

Marcos Antonio Barrera Vs. Erik Morales
(54-3-0-39 KO’s) (41-0-0-31 KO’s)

25.06 - Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas Nevada, the long anticipated sequel to Barrera vs. Morales was finally here. Would it be a candidate for ‘fight of the year’ honors?

From what we all remember, the first fight was one of the best fights of the 21st Century, the rematch would have to be tremendous. For die-hard Boxing fans, this would be a quick shift in thinking from the recent event of Tyson vs. Lewis two weeks ago from super-hype to super-fight.

The first fight was a hard to score because both guys put so much into each round. The tide turned from moment to moment in 12 rounds of total war. In the end, it seemed that Barrera had gotten the better of Morales, especially after MAB scored a knockdown in the final round. The Judge’s scorecards awarded the win to Morales, who ‘officially’ won a fight many thought he’d lost. He never got to enjoy the glory of his tainted victory. After that February 2000 controversial split decision win in Las Vegas, Erik Morales would now have the opportunity to show the world who is the best Featherweight in the world. Especially those who said he lost the first fight against Marcos Antonio Barrera.

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A Little History…

After the 2000 Barrera fight, Morales went on to fight 22-8 Mike Juarez for a quick TKO win in the third. After that, he beat the highly respected Kevin Kelley, who was perhaps a bit past his prime, by TKO. Then he KO’d Rodney Jones in Tijuana Mexico in one round.

In February of 2001, he fought Guty Espadas in Las Vegas and won a highly controversial unanimous decision. Many fans and ringside announcers thought Espadas had won the fight. The common denominator in the controversial decisions and Erik Morales is: Las Vegas.

After Espadas, Erik took on Injin Chi (24-1) in Reno, where he won a tough fight by U.D. often looking unimpressive.

After Morales in 2000, Barrera walked away the ‘People’s Champion,’ the best fighter without a Belt. Like Morales, Barrera took his next fight to his hometown of Mexico City, against a lesser caliber guy, Luiz Freitas (19-1), winning by KO in the first round. In September of 2000, Barrera won a questionable unanimous decision against Jose Luis Valbuena (18-1), a southpaw who gave Marcos all he could handle in New Orleans. MAB showed some vulnerability in that fight. Then it was back to Las Vegas to fight Jesus Salud (62-9), who he beat by TKO in the sixth.

His rise to the top came in April of 2001 when he took on the highly touted and large mouthed, Prince Naseem Hamed in Las Vegas where he won just about every round convincingly, exposing the Prince for being little more than a showman and exhibition caliber fighter. The Prince was famous for his flamboyance, which made many fans anxious to see him get the beating he had coming to him for a long time. Barrera was a big star after whooping the Prince. He later went on to display his compliment of refined skills by battering Enrique Sanchez in Reno and winning by TKO in the sixth.

Now things had come full circle. In what is considered a rivalry of two Mexican Cities, Tijuana’s finest would face Mexico City’s king of the ring and settle the unsettled at long last. In spite of the usual media hype circus that looks to create ‘bad blood’ you could see that these two sincerely do not like each other. Morales had often referred to Barrera as ‘mariquita’ in the Mexican press. Mariquita means little faggot. Barrera never took kindly to it. Mexico City is famous for its Prize Fighters. Tijuana is not. Like most of the World’s nations, Mexicans take their Boxing seriously.

The Fight

Round 1: Tactical and pensive with Morales coming forward and Barrera looking carefully strategic. Barrera took on the role of the boxer while Morales was the brawler. Morales controlled the pace and took the fight to Barrera. I gave Morales round 1.

Round 2: Barrera was the aggressor, scoring often with cleaner punches. Morales always answers but was less effective in round 2.

Round 3: Morales resumes the role of the aggressor and chases Barrera around the ring. After one exchange, Barrera head butts Morales, who wins the round with his come forward style and will. Although Barrera gets the better shots off, Morales dictated the pace. I gave this round to Morales.

Round 4: Barrera reminded me of Lennox Lewis trying to be careful almost to a fault in this round. The crowd boos the lack of intensity and slow pace. Barrera scores occasionally and does some damage to Morales who has a bloodied nose and swelling over his eye. Barrera low blows Morales again. Morales still dictates the pace and in my opinion, won the round.

Round 5: Barrera seems to be conserving his energy for the later rounds, as he is almost passive in this round. As Morales presses the action, Barrera throws a low blow and gets away with it.

Ringside announcer George Foreman makes a funny comment regarding the lackluster pace of this rematch saying, “In the first fight, it was, ‘When we were fools’ in the second fight it’s, ‘When we were rich!’”

It appeared that Barrera had evolved into more of a boxer than the slugger we expected to see exchanging non-stop punches with his sworn enemy Morales. Barrera’s strategy this time was more of a counter puncher/boxer who waited patiently for Morales to make mistakes so he could capitalize and score. As the ten second boards clanked, Morales must have thought it was the bell and he turned and walked away from Barrera, who in what seemed a dirty tactic, jumped all over Morales, who immediately realized his mistake and for about six seconds engaged in a slugfest with Barrera. I felt Morales won this round by being busier and still leading the action.

Round 6: Barrera comes on stronger, almost abandoning his cautious strategy and taking the fight to Morales. Again Barrera throws a low blow. Morales complained to Nady but the ref instructs them to fight. Barrera finally wins another round.

Round 7: Barrera takes control of the fight aggressively. Again Barrera low blows Morales. Nady gestures to Barrera to, ‘keep ‘em up.’ Barrera hurts Morales with combos to the head and body. Morales answers with equal aggression but a bit less power. At one point, Morales jams Barrera with a vicious body shot, Barrera goes down. Nady rules it a slip. It was a slip, but it was a slip caused by a punch, otherwise known as a knockdown. This round was the closest in terms of action to the 2000 fight. Morales should have won round 10-8.

Round 8: Suddenly, Barrera shows no sense of urgency. Morales presses the action. At one point, while fighting in close, Nady yells, “Break!” Barrera throws a body punch that causes Morales to lose his balance and he slips. Nady rules it a slip and warns Barrera for hitting and holding on the break. Barrera got the better of Morales in round 8.

Round 9: Barrera dominates Morales, who looks hurt and just a bit weakened as his eye is almost swollen shut. I wondered if he was having trouble seeing out of the eye. As the round comes to a close, Barrera finishes a flurry with another head butt. Nady does nothing.

Round 10: Barrera is in charge now, but still hits and holds. Morales eye looks shut, Barrera’s face looks unscathed. Morales threw more punches but Barrera lands the more effective shots.

Round 11: In spite of his eye, Morales is reenergized and fights aggressively. Barrera seems almost calm, looking to out box and capitalize on Morales mistakes. I wondered if Barrera knew something the audience didn’t know the way he was so casual in a fight that he might have been behind on the scorecards due to the first half of the fight where Barrera didn’t exert himself enough. The one-eyed Morales poured everything he had into winning the round. After the round ends, Barrera’s corner tells him, “You’re losing, you got to win the next round!” Barrera still seemed calm. I was amazed at Barrera’s lack of intensity.

Round 12: The last round went back and forth with both guys having their moments. Barrera gets off good shots but Morales always comes back with volumes of punches. Although Barrera might have done more damage, Morales was more aggressive and showed more desire to win. As the final bell rang, Morales raised his arms in victory as Barrera walked quietly to his corner. Morales people lifted him on their shoulders and paraded him round the ring. Barrera’s corner did the same a moment later.

Without a knockout, it was off to the Twilight Zone known as the Judge’s scorecards. I figured Morales would get the decision and Barrera would have to know that giving up so many early rounds in order to conserve his energy might not have been a good plan.

The Judge’s scorecards read like this:

Duane Ford – 115-113 Barrera
Chuck Giampa – 116-112 Barrera
Mike Glienna – 115-113 Barrera

Unofficial Ringside Scorer Harold Lederman – 115-113 Morales

It would seem that Lederman’s scores are often inconsistent with the official Judge’s scores in big fights. The way I figure it, in spite of Morales face being beaten to a pulp and Barrera looking relatively unmarked by the fight, Morales did more to win. It just didn’t look that way seeing them after the fight was over. He carried at least four of the first six rounds. Sure Barrera won most of the rounds after the fifth, but did he win them all? Again these guys seem to be so evenly matched up that where Morales outfights Barrera with a high volume of punches and come forward aggression, it’s Barrera who scores the better shots that cause the most damage while spending less energy to do so. They are two parts of an equation.

B squared = M to the fourth power. What would Einstein say?

Morales used the same type of strategy in 2002 that he did in 2000. The difference is that this time, he was more successful with it. Yet, he loses the fight.

Anyone who’s been watching Barrera over the years could see that his style has changed. He is less of a brawler and more of a boxer. He looks to counter more than to initiate these days. I found him a bit of a dirty-fighter against Morales; I counted seven definite fouls by Barrera. One thing is certain, the Judges like him better these days.

If you watch the fight a few times, chances are you will have a different opinion each time you see it. It’s really hard to argue that Barrera didn’t win. He did the most damage. He was very economical with his energy and was able to be stronger in the later rounds. At the same time, you could easily argue that Morales won the fight. He was the more aggressive and scored often in just about every round. He showed greater desire to win than Barrera, who often seemed too cautious. Since Morales threw so many combinations, he probably had less power on his shots. Maybe that explains why Barrera didn’t look as beat up after the 12th round ended. What was once a war of similar styles became a match up of different styles. Barrera’s boxing vs. Morales brawling. If Nady taken points fo! r at least two of Barrera’s six fouls, who knows how it might’ve affected the official scoring.

A draw would have been acceptable to this Boxing fan. But I’m certain that the Promoters and moneymakers knew that by evening the score and allowing both to have a win, the only thing left to do is to do it again. More money, more money, more money, more. Honestly, I have NO problem seeing these guys fight one more time. Only I wish they would fight in Mexico, in any city except Tijuana or Mexico City, maybe somewhere in the middle. Monterrey Mexico would be perfect; neither guy would have an advantage.

After Gatti and Ward last month, everything else seems pretty tame.

Overall, I was disappointed that this rematch was not as exciting as their first fight in 2000. That fight was a war. But now, both guys are older, wiser and richer. If they fight a third time, it might be even less thrilling than this one was. Before the fight, I read that Barrera had no plans to accept Morales WBC Title if he won. Yet, there he was, hoisting the belt over his head after winning what many see as yet another controversial decision. Interesting.

June has been an exciting month for fight fans. We got Holyfield vs. Rahman, Ricky Hatton vs. Eamonn Magee, Tyson and Lewis I, Barrera vs. Morales II and next weekend, Vladimir Klitschko will fight the aging, yet potentially dangerous Ray Mercer. None could be more excited than the PPV people, who have raked in mega-dough in exchange for some entertaining events.

It’s a shame that Professional Boxing isn’t on regular TV anymore, where everyone could see great fighters like Erik Morales and Marcos Antonio Barrera. Pro Boxing would benefit greatly from showing the best fights on regular TV. Think of all the new Boxing gyms that might open, or the toy stores selling action-figures of Arturo Gatti and Mickey Ward. Maybe Hasbro would make a new Rock ‘em Sock ‘em Robots? Boxing trading cards, etc. That would get Boxing closer to the Mainstream.

Everyone wins when fans get to see great fights, fighters get more exposure, and the Promoters make more money then they ever dreamed. The way it is now, Boxing is like a Cult sport. Don’t the Promoters understand that the Mainstream is where the really big money is? Think how much money they might make with sponsors like Coke-Cola, General Motors or McDonalds? It would make PPV look like a kid’s Lemonade stand.

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Agree or disagree? Send comments to dshark87@hotmail.com

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Barrera Less Than Impressive In Rematch