By Brent Matteo Alderson

This coming Saturday, Marco Antonio Barrera will finally have a chance to reverse one of his most devastating defeats.  I always viewed the rematch as a dream fight, but surprisingly the boxing community seems to have written off Barrera for a number of reasons.  First of all Marco has showed significant signs of deterioration.  He was lucky to have escaped with the decision in the first fight against Rocky Juarez and he clearly lost to Juan Manuel Marquez in his last fight.  Plus it’s obvious that Barrera has lost that youthful aggression. 

He can’t fight for three minutes of every round and has to pick his spots and use his vast experience to compensate for physical deterioration.  Still Barrera is a warrior with a huge ego.  He has been fighting at the elite level since 1996 when he knocked out Kennedy McKinney in the greatest fight that I’ve ever seen live and besides the two fights with Junior Jones and his three wars with Morales, he has been dominant and has been classified as one of the best fighters in the world for the better part of ten years.  In fact last fall I ranked Marco as the second greatest fighter in the history of Mexico which I still think is a very realistic evaluation of his place in history. 

On Saturday Marco is facing a daunting task.  He’s trying to beat a fighter who dominated him four years ago when he was 29 years old.  Besides the age factor, Pacquiao has grown into a legitimate 130 pounder with a well defined torso and huge back muscles which seem to have increased his power without having the usual effect of decreasing his speed.  Throw in the fact that the Pac man has gained so much more experience fighting in  big fight atmospheres and it seems as though Pacquiao is going to be significantly better while Barrera is going to be significantly worse which will result in an even more one sided beating. 

There are some factors to consider. Marco Antonio Barrera is a fistic legend and Cus D’amato always believed that truly great fighters could turn back the clock for one night and call on their experience and implement the perfect strategy to upset the odds and come out victorious.  Ali did it against Foreman, Leonard did it against Hagler, and Foreman did it against Michael Moorer.  I’m still not so sure that a victory over Manny would be as impressive as those wins, but it would be close and catapult Barrera to a place in history that few fighters occupy. 

He wouldn’t be mentioned along the side of such greats as Alexis Arguello and Dick Tiger, but would move up the ladder next to such greats as Holyfield, Walker, and Duran.  In some observer’s minds he may even be elevated past Chavez as the greatest fighter in Mexican history.  Barrera may not have been undefeated for as long as Chavez, but with a victory he would have beaten a higher caliber of fighter. 

Even though some people think Manny’s behavior and preparation for the fight will be the factor that determines the fight’s outcome I think it’s more about Barrera’s state of mind.  Regardless that he's been one of the sport's great warriors, sometimes fighters come in with the perspective that I’ve given everything to this sport and I don’t want to get hurt at the end so I will try my best and if it doesn’t work out I’ve had a great career.  It’s something that has happened countless times, tired warriors not willing to put their lived on the line one more time to achieve victory in the squared circle. I think Castillo had that mentality in the Hatton fight as did Nigel Benn in his last fight against Steve Collins. 

It’s not something I like, but I respect fighters and always wish the best for our fistic heroes.  In fact I think it’s almost criminal when a fighter has made millions and ends up broke living in the impoverished state that they were in when they started fighting.  A fighter could put a million dollars in an annuity and receive around 3,000 dollars a month for the rest of their life.  Shelly Finkel set something like that up for Mark Breland and he receives over 100k a year annually and the mediocre Todd Foster set up something similar and receives around three thousand a month. It’s a sin when guys like Meldrick Taylor or Iran Barkley are down and out after sacrificing so much for the sport. 

Anyway back on the fight. 

If Marco doesn’t come in with that retirement mentality and is willing to risk everything to win the fight I think he has a legitimate shot at winning.  I’m not trying to disparage Marco by insinuating that he might be coming in for a payday, but everybody has their breaking point and he has provided us with Gatti like thrills for over ten years.  Plus the fact that for the first time in his pro-career he’s going into a fight without his beloved trainer, Rudy Hernandez, or his trusted advisor Robert Diaz, kind of supports the notion that Barrera is in the fight for a payday and is trying to keep as much as the pie as possible since it’ll be his last. 

Really, that’s just hearsay, only Marco’s inner circle really knows what caused the sudden changes with in his inner, but If Marco is as motivated to win this fight as he was in his three fights with Morales and he fights conservatively, pick his shots, boxes, and manages to stun Pacquiao on occasions from the outside like Oscar Larios did, he can win the fight.  He has to fight a defensive minded fight like he did against Hamed, staying in a protective shell like a turtle, only coming out to throw accurate high percentage landing shots. 

He is definitely capable of implementing this strategy.  In an interview I conducted for the March of 2006 edition of Ring Magazine, Marco commented that in preparation for the Hamed fight that he “learned how to move better, learned footwork, learned how to use my speed. Even though I’m not as good at it as I would like to be, it’s still working out well for me. I’m a more versatile fighter, just trading shots isn’t going to work with a fighter of the Prince’s caliber.”  And it’s not going work with the younger faster stronger Manny Pacquioa so Barrera needs to implement the perfect strategy and hope that good fortune is on his side this coming Saturday. 

A special rare type of greatness is in his grasp. 
  
Brent Matteo Alderson, a graduate of UCLA, has been part of the staff at BoxingScene.com since 2004 and teaches Spanish at the High School level in Southern California.  He has published articles in Ring Magazine, KO, World Boxing, Boxing 2006, and Latin Boxing Magazine.  He has also been featured on the ESPN Classic television program “Who’s Number One?”  Please e-mail any comments to BoxingAficionado@aol.com