By Miguel Rivera
On February 19th, 2000, fifteen years ago, two hot blooded young Mexican warriors gave us one of the fiercest and greatest bouts in the history of Boxing. Erik Morales arrived to the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, with a brilliant undefeated record of 35-0 with 28 KO´s, while Marco Antonio Barrera turned up with a record of 49 victories with 36 KO´s and 2 defeats.
From the clang of the first bell, it was clear that both fighters were determined to knock ten bells out of each other, but finally settled for a dozen. Besides Northerner Vs Chilango pride, the WBC super bantamweight crown was on the line. The Judges' scorecards favored Erik Morales with a split decision, and scores of 113-114, 114-113 and 115-112.
The fight was voted by the BWAA as the 'Fight of The Year.'
Barrera won twelve round decisions in their next two fights, both wars, in 2002 and 2004, and both were also held in Las Vegas. Barrera retired from boxing in 2011 and Erik fought for the last time in 2012.
"I should not have accepted this fight at junior featherweight. It killed me to make the limit of 122 pounds and I did not climb into the ring at one hundred percent," said Morales. "The mistake was having the fight signed at super bantamweight, where I suffered a lot to make weight. I thought about staying on the sidelines, but I did not want to disappoint people and my promoters Bob Arum and Fernando Beltran, who placed their trust in me. "
"Barrera would close strong in the last ten seconds of each round to impress the judges and so my win was a split decision, but I became the best fighter at bantamweight in the world."
"Because of me Bob Arum began to promote Mexicans. I was the one who opened the doors for my compatriots and I was the pillar of Zanfer Promotions and Fernando Beltran in Mexico."
