By Bob Canobbio
Manny Pacquiao a 2 ½-1 favorite, in a rematch of his dominating performance vs. Marco Antonio Barrera four years ago, when he entered the Alamodome ring as a 4-1 underdog.
Manny survived a questionable knockdown in round one to totally dominate Barrera for the remainder of the fight. How lopsided was it? Manny landed 30 or more punches in six of eleven rounds before the end came at 2:56 of the eleventh after Barrera was down for the second time in the fight. The other knockdown occurred in round three.
Overall, Pac Man landed 309 of 838 total punches (37%), including 257 of 570 (45%) power shots, outlanding Barrera by a better than 2-1 margin in that department. That’s an average of 76 total punches thrown and 28 landed per round- par for the course for Manny. The out-gunned Barrera put up decent numbers, landing 172 of 547 (31%- 16 punches landed per round) total punches, none having any effect on Pacquiao. Barrera’s jab wasn’t a factor either, as he landed an average of just 7 per round, throwing 26 per frame. It was All Manny, All The Time in Texas.
Six months later, Pacquiao dropped Juan Manuel Marquez three times in the first round, but had to settle for a draw , as the game Marquez slowed the pace of the fight with effective counter punching. Manny landed just 148 of 639 (23%) total punches, averaging just 53 thrown per round. Marquez landed 158 of 547 total punches (29%). Marquez also had a 122-100 edge in power shots landed, hitting on 36% to 43% for Pac Man. The fight featured odd and controversial scoring. Guy Jutras scored it 115-110 for Marquez, while John Stewart saw it 115-110 Pacquiao. Burt Clements had it 113-113, scoring the first round 10-7, instead of 10-6 as the others saw it. Had Clements scored the first round 10-6, Manny wins a split decision.
In March of ’05, Manny lost a unanimous decision to Erik Morales in the first fight of their memorable trilogy. Morales controlled the fight with his jab, landing 96 of 303 (32%) to just 34 of 349 (10%) for Manny, who was bothered by a cut over his right eye that occurred in round five. Overall, Morales landed 265 of 714 (37%) total punches to 217 of 894 (24%-75 thrown per round) for Pacquiao. Morales also landed 41% of his power shots, all set up by an effective jab- even vs. the southpaw Pac Man. Pacquiao also complained of the Winning gloves he was contractually (thanks to Murad Muhammad) obligated to wear as a factor in his defeat.
In the rematch ten months later, Morales led on all cards thru five rounds, but Manny (wearing his beloved Reyes gloves) invested in a body attack early in the fight and it began to pay dividends by round six. Pac Man outlanded Morales 32-8 in power shots in that round and the route was on. Morales, unable to hold Manny off any longer, landed just 20 jabs over the next four rounds. Morales was down in the ninth and twice more in the tenth before the end came at 2:33 of the tenth. Manny held a 103-45 edge in power shots landed after round five. It was the first time Morales had been ko’d in 52 fights.
The rubber match was all Manny vs. the now brave, but shop-worn Morales, who left all his fight in the steam room as he struggled to make 130 lbs once again. Pac Man had a 73-25 edge in power shots landed in rounds two and three, closing the show by landing 51 of 71 before the end came at 2:57 of round three. Morales forced to slug with Manny, landed just 14 jabs in three painful rounds.
Following his devastating loss to Pacquiao, Barrera won six straight, including a majority decision win over Morales to take a 2-1 lead in their trilogy. Barrera won the battle of the jabs vs. Morales, landing 67 of 314 to 49 of 236 for Morales. That jab enabled Barrera to land 49% of his power shots, including 61% in round three, 65% in round six and 59% in the pivotal eleventh round.
Barrera narrowly escaped The Staples Center in LA with a split decision win over Rocky Juarez in May of ’06. The fight was originally announced a draw, before it was later discovered that judge Ken Morita’s card should have read 115-114 Barrera, not 114-114. Duane Ford scored it 115-114 Juarez, who had a 105-84 edge in power connects for the fight. Judge Anek Hongtongkam scored Barrera, 115-114. Barrera’s 84-30 edge in jabs landed was the difference in the fight. He averaged 30 thrown per round.
Barrera’s jab (and Juarez’s inactivity) again was the difference in the rematch, won by Barrera via unanimous decision. Marco landed 105 of 369 jabs (28%- 31 thrown per round), while Juarez, despite promising to be busier in the rematch, averaged just 45 total punches thrown per round. He averaged 54 thrown per round in the first fight. Overall, Barrera landed 178 of 564 total punches to 134 of 542 for Rocky.
Marco’s six-fight winning streak came to an end last March with a unanimous decision loss to Juan Manuel Marquez, in a fight that appeared closer than the judges cards (116-111 Marquez 2x & 118-109 Marquez) showed. Marquez was dominating the seventh round before a picture-perfect Barrera right hand sent Marquez to the canvas on all fours. Barrera then hit Marquez while he was down. Referee Jay Nady didn’t see the punch that dropped Marquez, only the punch that landed while Marquez was down and ruled no knockdown and took a point away from Barrera as well for the foul. Overall, Marquez had a 197-146 edge in power shots landed, scoring with the harder shots all night. Barrera landed 30% of his 32 jabs thrown per round, but the counter-punching Marquez still landed 44% of his power shots.
Judging from the outcome of the first fight and Barrera’s performances vs. Marquez and Juarez, it’s hard not to come to the conclusion that only Manny can beat Manny in this fight. True, Barrera had training camp distractions before the first fight. In the weeks before his first meeting with Pacquiao, it was revealed he underwent a surgical procedure in 1997 to remove several malformed blood vessels in his head and a steel plate was inserted to protect the area.
Then, 18 days before the fight, as a precautionary measure ordered by the California sheriff’s office, Barrera was forced to flee his Big Bear training camp due to wildfires sweeping thru Southern California.
Rudy Perez, who trained Barrera his entire career (they’ve known each other for 26 yrs.) was not in camp and will not be in Barrera’s corner the night of the fight. In fact, Barrera trained in Guadalajara for the rematch, to be closer to his family, under the tutelage of local trainer Fermin Hernandez. Longtime assistant Sendai Tanaka and Marco’s brother Jorge will be in Marco’s corner. Perez currently trains 122-lb champion Israel Vazquez.
As for Manny, the weight of his country remains on his shoulders. No Manny training camp is without distractions, trips back and forth to the Philippines, etc. It’s safe to say trainer Freddie Roach has a firm grasp on the situation, having been there and down that before with Manny. Manny’s peaking at 28, while Barrera’s four years older than he was for their first meeting and we all know how that ended.
Barrera’s only chance for victory is to control the fight with his jab and slow the pace of the fight like Marquez did vs. Manny. Not likely, Manny’s a better fighter now than he was vs. Marquez, which means he’s better now than he was for the first Barrera fight. Hard to imagine him fighting a better fight than he did the first time around. 80% of Manny should be enough to defeat Barrera this time around. That being said, Manny by late round stoppage, putting an end to the Hall of Fame career of Barrera, a five-time champion in three different weight classes.
