 The Worldwide Boxing Magazine Site |
Got your free t-shirt yet? |
| articles from the magazine ... |
|
February 2000
Each month we bring you a selection of articles from the current and past issues of BOXING MONTHLY. To buy the magazine, see our subscription or back issues pages, or use our world distribution map to find a news-stand copy. Why not use our Interactive Forum to express your own boxing comments and opinions!
|
 |
PRIDE AND PASSION
It’s always a bit special when two top Mexicans clash, and so it is with the Morales-Barrera super bantamweight showdown. GRAHAM HOUSTON previews what should be a memorable clash of champions |
|
PEX MEX: Barrera seems to be clearly the stronger, but Morales is the slicker
fighter - if he chooses to fight in an intelligent way...
- Get Big Pic When
two top Mexican fighters meet, it is always a special occasion.
Aficionados from south of the border demand that the fighters give their
all, and the Mexican boxers acknowledge it.
That is why there is such a high expectation in boxing circles
concerning the all-Mexican showdown between undefeated Erik "El
Terrible" Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera, who meet at Las Vegas on 19
February in a world super bantamweight title fight.
Morales, from the border city of Tijuana, is the World Boxing Council
champion in the 122lbs (8st 10lbs) division, while Mexico City’s Barrera
holds the World Boxing Organisation belt. But the crowd at the Mandalay
Bay casino hotel and a Home Box Office television viewing audience
probably could not care less if no title was at stake. The anticipation
is in seeing which fighter prevails in a match that has been a long time
coming.
The 23-year-old Morales is a 3-1 on favourite, and rightly so. He has
won 35 consecutive bouts (with 28 KOs) and he stopped Junior Jones, the
New Yorker who twice defeated Barrera.
This will be Morales’s ninth defence of the 8st 10lbs title, and his
last. He has confirmed that after the bout he will be moving up to
featherweight and, he hopes, a fight with Naseem Hamed.
Barrera, who turns 26 a month before the bout, has won 49 of his 51
fights, his only losses coming in two meetings with Junior Jones. He has
halted 36 opponents and will be taking part in his 15th world title
fight.
And Barrera, too, is a possible opponent for Hamed. The losses to
Jones dimmed Barrera’s star-power, but he has won six in a row since. If
Barrera can upset Morales, it would seem a natural step to move up to
126lbs (nine stone) for a meeting with the Prince.
But neither Morales nor Barrera is likely to be looking ahead to a
Princely payday. Each has the other to contend with first, and a hint of
bad feeling is already in the air, with Barrera apparently conveying the
impression that he got the better of Morales in their one sparring
session, five years ago.
Morales is three inches the taller man at 5ft 8ins, and it is expected
that he will seek to box on the outside and bomb Barrera with right
hands as his opponent advances.
This would make sense. It was, after all, how Junior Jones twice was
able to master Barrera.
On the face of it, Morales can outbox Barrera. But if Barrera’s
pressure starts to make inroads on his opponent’s superior boxing
skills, if Morales finds himself getting hit in a consistent way, then
it is quite possible that he will forget about being smart and start
banging. And if he does, it could play into Barrera’s hands.
Or maybe Morales can beat Barrera either way — boxing or punching —
although the former would be a wiser strategy than the latter.
One thing we know with Barrera is that he will be taking the fight to
Morales from the start, seeking to hurt him to the body and wear him
down.
British boxers Richie Wenton and Paul Lloyd felt the Barrera power and
were blown out in three rounds and one round respectively.
Barrera seems to be clearly the stronger of the two men, but Morales
is the slicker fighter — if he chooses to fight in an intelligent way,
and not let his emotions get the better of him.
The way that Barrera went out in five rounds in his first fight with
Junior Jones might seem to suggest that his chin is questionable, but I
do not believe this is the case. He walked on to a blockbuster that
could have dropped anyone.
In the rematch, Barrera’s chin did not let him down, although he took
some heavy rights, especially in the 10th round. And he finished
stronger than Jones that night, winning the last two rounds on two of
the judges’ cards.
Barrera also showed a strong chin in his thrilling fight with Kennedy
McKinney four years ago, when he was blasted in the 10th and 11th rounds
— even touching down to be given a mandatory eight count — before
steaming back to overpower an exhausted McKinney in the 12th.
Morales is a seriously hard hitter, with eight opponents halted in his
nine world title fights. But the ageing Daniel Zaragoza stayed in the
fight until finally caving in, weary as much as anything, in the 11th.
And in his last fight, in October, Morales was taken the full 12
rounds and given a gruelling tussle by Belfast’s Wayne McCullough, a
fight in which the Mexican confessed there were times when he thought he
could lose.
Barrera brings heavier firepower than McCullough, who could hit
Morales but could not hurt him. But can Barrera withstand the sort of
punches that the rock-chinned McCullough took that night?
And it will be fascinating to see what will happen if Barrera is able
to come through Morales’s big rights and pound the body. If Morales is
not at his optimum strength at this weight, then Barrera’s hooks
downstairs will surely find him out.
Barrera has a quiet confidence going into the fight, not at all
intimidated by the fact that his opponent is hailed as an emerging
superstar. Barrera believes that, quite simply, he is the better fighter
and that he will prove it on the night.
The fact that Morales blew out Junior Jones in four rounds and Jones
twice beat Barrera may not have as much significance as it at first
appears. Jones had been having problems making 122lbs, and moved up in
weight after the Morales fight. And in his last fight before facing
Morales, Jones had taken heavy hits in a shocking fourth-round loss to
Kennedy McKinney.
Although Morales crushed the New York boxer — after a slightly shaky
first couple of rounds — the Jones he fought was probably not as strong
and effective as the Jones who met Barrera.
Barrera says he learned a lot from the fights with Jones. "I thought I
was invincible, that no one could touch me," he says. "Those fights put
my feet on the ground. This fight will bring me back to the top."
But Morales has the aura of a fighter who believes that no one can
beat him. He has talked of the fight with Barrera as being a
transitional fight, leading to greater glory as a featherweight -
starting with a challenge against Hamed.
Barrera is too good a fighter to be discounted, but the height, reach,
combination punches and big right hand of Morales are going to be
problems for him, and I do not think he will be able to overcome them. I
expect Morales to win in a fight that could surprise a lot of people by
going the full 12 rounds. The products of fighting families
Erik
Morales is a young man who dedicates himself to his profession and
who has worked at learning his craft. He took up the sport at the age of
five, trained by his ex-boxer dad. Jose Morales - nicknamed "Olivaritos"
because of a resemblance to the great Mexican fighter Ruben Olivares. By
the age of 14 Morales was sparring with seasoned professionals.
It seems that Morales Sr did not want his son to be a professional
boxer, preferring him to concentrate on his education. We are told that
the father tried to discourage his son with tough matches, but Morales
kept winning - and Morales Sr realised that his son was something
special as knockout wins earned the "El Terrible" nickname.
By 1998, Morales was starting to be regarded as the fighter to replace
Julio Cesar Chavez as the next Mexican boxing idol. The World Boxing
Council named him its "sensation of the year".
Promoter Bob Arum signed Morales to a long-term contract last March,
saying: "He will be one of the great Mexican champions of all time."
But, not all that long ago, Marco Antonio Barrera, too, seemed on his
way to becoming one of the great Mexican fighters. He turned
professional two months before his 16th birthday, after only 16 amateur
bouts, after watching a boxer uncle in the gym.
When I spoke with Barrera through an interpreter in Los Angeles
several years ago he told me that he comes from a middle-class family,
never fought in the street. He tries to be calm and steady in the ring
like his favourite fighter, the late, great former featherweight
champion, Salvador Sanchez.
Even then, Barrera was talking about a fight with Hamed, saying he
would come to Britain for the match.
He says he can dig deep when necessary, and he showed his hard-earned
win over Kennedy McKinney, although he said in a 1996 BM interview with
James Blears that a fight with a much more experienced fellow-Mexican,
Josefeno Suarez, when Barrera was only 17, was even tougher.
By November 1996, Barrera had won 43 fights in a row and was widely
expected to overpower Junior Jones in their fight at Tampa, Florida. He
was winning on the scorecards after four rounds but got drilled by that
big right in the fifth, beaten to the punch as he started to throw a
right of his own. Although Barrera got up he was unsteady, and went down
again in a confused finish in which his handlers came into the ring
before the round was over. Jones was declared winner by
disqualification; in reality Barrera had been stopped.
In the rematch, Barrera was outscored in the middle rounds but his
late rush made it close: just one and two points respectively on two of
the judges’ cards.
He has come back strongly, regaining the WBO title and showing no loss
of confidence, although he was involved in a dreadful, scrambling type
of fight last August when he easily outpointed an awkward Argentinean,
Pastor Maurin.
A tune-up blowout in December will be recorded as a no decision
because Barrera’s opponent was deemed unqualified by the California
commission to meet him in a proper fight.
And now comes the fight with Morales, the most important match of
Barrera’s career. Heritage of showdowns
The
Erik Morales-Marco Antonio Barrera fight is the latest in a long
line of great Mexican showdowns. Here are some others:
14 June 1968: JESUS "CHUCHO" CASTILLO W12 JESUS "LITTLE POISON"
PIMENTEL: Former bantamweight champion Castillo outboxes the
heavy-hitting Pimentel, who suffers cuts. Pimentel had scored 58 KO
wins, but Castillo piles up points with left jabs in front of 16,505
fans at the Inglewood Forum — the first boxing show at this venue.
19 April 1970: RUBEN OLIVARES W15 CHUCHO CASTILLO: Undefeated
big-hitter Olivares wins a unanimous decision but is dropped by a
right-hander in the third round before a crowd of 18,762 at the
Inglewood Forum. Castillo suffers a profusely bleeding nose. Afterwards,
Olivares says that this was his toughest fight.
16 October 1970: CHUCHO CASTILLO TKO14 RUBEN OLIVARES: Olivares loses
for the first time after 59 wins in a row when he suffers a shocking cut
over the left eye in this rematch before a crowd of 16,404 at the
Inglewood Forum. But Olivares controls the first 10 rounds with his
heavier punching, especially the left hooks, until the blood flowing
into his eye becomes too much of a handicap.
3 April 1971: RUBEN OLIVARES W15 CHUCHO CASTILLO: Olivares wins back the
bantamweight title with a unanimous decision but Castillo drops him with
a left hook in the sixth round of their rubber match at the Inglewood
Forum, watched by a crowd of 18,456. Interestingly, although Olivares is
the big puncher (57 knockouts), Castillo is the boxer who scores the
only knockdowns in their three-fight series.
14 December 1971: RUBEN OLIVARES TKO end of 11 JESUS PIMENTEL: Pimentel
hurts the great bantamweight champion in the fourth but Olivares sends
the challenger through the ropes with a left hook in the sixth and then
controls the fight before a crowd of 14,704 at the Inglewood Forum.
Pimentel is pulled out by his corner at the end of the 11th in a
scheduled 15-rounder. In the other half of a championship twin main
event, Jose Napoles retains his welterweight title by outpointing
Hedgemon Lewis.
19 March 1972: RAFAEL HERRERA KO8 RUBEN OLIVARES: Apparently weakened by
making weight, bantamweight champ Olivares looks off-form, suffers a cut
over the right eye, and is outfought by Herrera before being sent down
by a left hook in the eighth to be counted out in front of a 22,000
crowd at a Mexico City bull ring. It was just the second loss for
Olivares in 69 fights. (Herrera lost the title to Panama’s Enrique
Pinder but won a 10-round decision over Olivares in a rematch on 14
November 1974, at the Inglewood Forum, scoring a knockdown in the
seventh round).
23 April 1977: CARLOS ZARATE KO4 ALFONSO ZAMORA: No title was at stake
in this clash of bantamweight champions, both undefeated, both powerful
punchers. Zarate, the World Boxing Council champ, had won 44 successive
bouts (43 KOs), Zamora, the World Boxing Association champ, had knocked
out 28 opponents in a row. Zamora struck first, hurting Zarate with a
left hook in the first round, but Zarate came back to drop his former
stablemate in the third and then twice in the fourth in front of a crowd
of 13,996 at the Inglewood Forum.
3 June 1979: LUPE PINTOR W15 CARLOS ZARATE: Down in the fourth round,
bloody inside the mouth and face swollen, Pintor keeps pressing in
doggedly to win a split, disputed decision to take the WBC bantam title
from Zarate — his longtime stablemate — at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas.
29 October 1988: JULIO CESAR CHAVEZ WTDec11 JOSE LUIS RAMIREZ: Chavez’s
sharp hitting controls this clash of rival lightweight champs — Chavez
WBA champ, Ramirez WBC — at the Las Vegas Hilton when his southpaw
opponent is cut on the forehead in a clash of heads and it goes to the
scorecards. Chavez, who was a 9-1 on favourite, said before the fight:
"At first I didn’t want to take the fight because we are so close,
almost like brothers." To the surprise of many, Chavez is in front by
only two points on the scorecards of two of the judges. Wallace Matthews
wrote in Newsday. "Chavez did everything a fighter can do for 10-plus
rounds except knock his man out."
7 March 1998: JULIO CESAR CHAVEZ D12 MIGUEL ANGEL GONZALEZ: After 12
rounds of solid boxing but few dramatic highlights before almost 50,000
fans at a Mexico City bull ring, this fight for the vacant WBC super
lightweight title comes out a draw. An error on the master score sheet
noticed afterwards — by yours truly — would have given Gonzalez a
one-point win, but the WBC says an error in tabulation was made and that
the draw verdict is the correct one. |
|
Also available to read from issue:
|
|
On sale on the last Thursday of every month Ensure you never miss a copy . . . buy your subscription or back issues here. |