Fights revisited.

[ViperSniper]

The timing could have been better, but this was a nice lil scrap that had controversy tucked inside!

Marquez was in form and made his way to the top with his breakthrough fight against Manny in a controversial draw and Barrera was still trying to prove he had it and still belonged at the top.

This was a fight between to highly respected Mexican fighters who were both highly praised for their skills and counterpunching abilities!

The critical part of the fight is the round 7 I believe Barrera puts Marquez down but gets a point deduction for hitting Marquez while still down instead!

I had Barrera taking the first 5 rounds. Barrera was beating Marquez to the jab, countering and outboxing him for the first half of the fight.
Barrera no longer at his best started slowing down in the second half of the fight. At this point MAB resorted to standing and trading infront of JMM. This was when Marquez finally started finding success and began to get into the fight having his best round in a close round 6.

Second half arrives and Barrera is getting no fresher and is still resorting to banging it out with Marquez but is eating more shots in this round than he has all fight. Marquez is on his way to taking a clear round when Barrera all of a sudden sends Marquez to the canvas with a right. Marquez down, looking out of it cops a very late shot from Barerra which sends him tumbling and ends with Barrera being deducted a point instead of being rewarded with his KD!

Barrera no longer boxing is content to continue to make it a fight with Marquez but the younger, fresher Marquez is getting the better of the exchanges with the aging Barrera and gathers most of the second half of the fight with effective shots. There were some close rounds towards the end but Marquez seemed to have more in the tank by the time the final beep rang!

I saw a very competitive, close fight and can see why people had mixed feelings on this fight and how to score it.

Havin one even round I scored the fight 115-113 Marquez. The point deduction was the deciding factor in this fight. Hitting Marquez while he was down is Barrera's own fault, instead of having a 10-8 round, Barrera walked away loosing that round and arguably the fight!

Barrera outboxed Marquez when it was a chessmatch early on but Marquez outgunned Barrera when they started firing!

Even at that stage of his career I was impressed with how very close Barrera was to taking the fight and how competitive he made it against Marquez! Being past his prime and getting a point deduction costed Barrera the fight. Watching this fight makes me believe even more that a prime Barrera walks away victorious against Marquez!

[SmartyBeardo]

I didn't score it as close as you did, and I certainly did not give Barrera the first 5 rounds. Without the foul it would have made it close.

Certainly Barrera, who is actually a bit younger, was more shop worn than JMM at that moment, but whether MAB would have defeated JMM in their primes is a very complicated question.

MAB had a more spectacular early career while JMM's was preempted by a defeat to Norwood that ultimately led to an evolution into a largely retooled fighter for the later part of his career.

Nothing can be taken away from MAB, JMM or Morales. They have been the guts of boxing over the last 13 years.

JMM is my favorite but that does not take anything away from the other two.

Thanks for the memory checks Viper.

[Mean Mister Mustard]

I had Marquez winning the fight. The first rounds were close, but that's almost always the case in a JMM fight, where he takes 2-3 rounds to get going. Once he found his groove, he began to connect with the better shots against MAB.

It was a good competitive fight, MAB always fought back hard whenever he got hit clean, but after the 4th round, JMM was always one step ahead.

Some people keep saying that JMM beat a shot MAB, but I didn't see that as being the case. Certainly Barrera was past his best, but in his previous fight he had completely befuddled Juarez in their second fight, so we know that he still had something in the tank.

[Fitz]

I too thought that this fight was very close, and while it wasn't a 'shot' Barrera, it was still a 2007 version that was definitely not the one we were used to, and he was able to box and hurt Marquez early in this fight.
What I took out of this fight is that I don't think Marquez beats Morales or Barrera for sure if they were to fight in their primes.

Would have loved to have seen Marquez fight Barrera and Morales much earlier. Would have been great fights.

[Big Slim]

Marquez has aged better than both Barrera and Morales, but that's likely at least in part the result of the brutal fights those two had with each other.

I really enjoyed this fight and thought it was close too. I had Barrera up early and remember thinking he had noticeably faster hands than Marquez.

If I recall, I scored the fight 115-112 JMM, but if that 7th round been ruled correctly I would have had it 114-113.

Excellent fight.

[SmartyBeardo]

Big Slim Wrote:Marquez has aged better than both Barrera and Morales, but that's likely at least in part the result of the brutal fights those two had with each other.

I really enjoyed this fight and thought it was close too. I had Barrera up early and remember thinking he had noticeably faster hands than Marquez.

If I recall, I scored the fight 115-112 JMM, but if that 7th round been ruled correctly I would have had it 114-113.

Excellent fight.

Not quite that close.