By Miguel Rivera
Francisco Valcárcel, the president of the World Boxing Organization, has given high praise to Marco Antonio Barrera, who on Sunday will enter the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, New York.
Valcarcel says Barrera is one of the pillars that helped make his boxing entity what it is today. The WBO, along with the WBC, WBA and IBF - are recognized as the four largest boxing organizations in the world.
Barrera was a champion with the WBO from 1995 to 2000 and made nearly 20 defenses of the title during that time period, including some of his more memorable bouts.
Barrera is part of the latest Hall of Fame class, alongside Johnny Tapia, Naseem Hamed and Oscar de la Hoya. They were the fighters who opened the doors in the world of boxing and took part in some of the most exciting fights in the sport's history.
"Marco is one of the great Mexican boxers of all time, and WBO will be eternally grateful for Marco's loyalty to the agency," Valcárcel said to ESPN Deportes.
Valcarcel is in Canastota, where he will donate, on behalf of the WBO, $50,000 to the Hall of Fame.
"He helped us to grow. Thanks to people like Marco the WBO is in the place where it is at the moment. He was a fighter who gave prestige to the lower weights. I remember when at the end of the 90's he beat Daniel Jimenez, he was crowned in an extraordinary fight that was the fight of the year, and that gave us that push that the WBO needed," said Valcarcel.
Back in 2000, the WBO made a controversial move during the first bout between Barrera and Erik Morales. Although Morales won, the WBO kept their title with Barrera, because the sanctioning body felt the scoring of the contest was highly controversial