Better 122 Pounder?

[ßringer]

Eh... idk about that. This kind of logic gives credence to things like... Casamayor deserves credit for winning a close split decision over Santa Cruz.

I think you can make determinations on who wins fights, even if it is at odds with the judges.

I agree. But "resume" is the paper trail. And on that paper, Barrera lost those 2 fights.

The first fight with Morales was close as hell, but I thought Marco edged it.

It's nothing like a Casamayor robbery of Santa Cruz, where he lost every damn round and got a gift decision.

[oldgringo]

It would change my opinion.

Personally I felt that Marco won their first fight as well. But it was close, and on paper - He lost. End of.

So I can't give him credit for a win he "should've" gotten, but didn't.

I feel the same way about the Jones rematch that Hypersion pointed out.

I thought Barrera deserved the nod. But again, he never got it. And on paper, that makes Morales the far better 122 pound fighter by record.

Agreed.

I had Morales winning the fight 114-113 every time I scored it, but I understand that many feel Barrera won. He visibly shook Morales more and landed plenty of heavy blows throughout the fight.

Still, it was a razor thin fight either way with little room to say one man was clearly better than the other. All three of their fights were like that. I could argue all day that Morales deserved the decision in their second bout, but he lost and that's the end of it. The clearest fight was the third....a great win for Marco.

Erik beat just about every notable fighter in that division, never being bested by anybody. He is the greater Super Bantamweight.

[Fox McCloud]

Agreed.

I had Morales winning the fight 114-113 every time I scored it, but I understand that many feel Barrera won. He visibly shook Morales more and landed plenty of heavy blows throughout the fight.

Still, it was a razor thin fight either way with little room to say one man was clearly better than the other. All three of their fights were like that. I could argue all day that Morales deserved the decision in their second bout, but he lost and that's the end of it. The clearest fight was the third....a great win for Marco.

Erik beat just about every notable fighter in that division, never being bested by anybody. He is the greater Super Bantamweight.

Seriously? I definitely thought the second fight was the clearest. Barrera did **** for the first 6 rounds and the second half was pretty even, with a slight edge to Barrera.

Although I do think the third one is also beyond argument... Barrera obviously won that one. Paul Smith's 114-114 scorecard is absurd in my opinion.

[Fox McCloud]

Agreed.

I had Morales winning the fight 114-113 every time I scored it, but I understand that many feel Barrera won. He visibly shook Morales more and landed plenty of heavy blows throughout the fight.

Still, it was a razor thin fight either way with little room to say one man was clearly better than the other. All three of their fights were like that. I could argue all day that Morales deserved the decision in their second bout, but he lost and that's the end of it. The clearest fight was the third....a great win for Marco.

Erik beat just about every notable fighter in that division, never being bested by anybody. He is the greater Super Bantamweight.

I wasn't around back then, so I don't really know who was on top at the time, but... was there anyone he missed?

Kennedy McKinney was one I know for sure. Vuyani Bungu might have been another one, but I'm not sure.

[oldgringo]

Seriously? I definitely thought the second fight was the clearest. Barrera did **** for the first 6 rounds and the second half was pretty even, with a slight edge to Barrera.

Although I do think the third one is also beyond argument... Barrera obviously won that one. Paul Smith's 114-114 scorecard is absurd in my opinion.

I thought Erik took the second fight closely but clearly. It was pretty even in terms of action, being that it was somewhat uneventful compared to the violent first fight.

I thought Erik took most of those early rounds and generally traded rounds with Barrera in the second part of the fight. I have scored it 8-4 and 7-5 in Morales' favor in the past.

The third was a case of Erik waiting too long to do anything. That performance caught me off guard because Erik was the one taking on tough opponents at the time and Barrera came up swinging early and often. I think he surprised Erik too. That shot that clipped Erik on his big schnoz didn't help either. It was definitely a Barrera win though.

[oldgringo]

I wasn't around back then, so I don't really know who was on top at the time, but... was there anyone he missed?

Kennedy McKinney was one I know for sure. Vuyani Bungu might have been another one, but I'm not sure.

Vuyani Bungu was the IBF champ at the time. He and Kennedy McKinney were busy knocking each others heads off when Morales was peaking. I honestly can't tell you why Morales and Bungu never unified.

It's tough to remember the other guys in the division. Antonio Cermeno was another notable fighter around that time. He held the WBA title around the time Erik won his first title. He also defeated Angel Chacon, famous for being brutally knocked out by Morales in 3 rounds. Cermeno moved up to 126 and tested the water there.

Michael Brodie came in to his own right as Erik left the division. Willie Jorrin too. Tough to remember past that I'm afraid.

[BOLLOCKS]

The Super Bantamweight Baby Faced Assassin Marco Antonio Barrera.

[BOLLOCKS]

[DarchinyFAN]

Morales..... at those smaller weights he had such a strength advantage he could control fight pace.

[ßringer]

Goddamn, that's a nice video. It really shows what a wrecking ball Marco could be.