Tweet
For Marco Antonio Barrera, the role of the proverbial king of the hill is accompanied by the clichéd loneliness at the top.
He is the best of the junior lightweights, a top-notch champion whose only losses in the past eight years were to Erik Morales and Manny Pacquiao, the second- and third-best pugilists in the 130-pound division.
He is the man who sent Naseem Hamed off toward retirement with his tail between his legs, the guy who inaugurated HBO’s Boxing After Dark with a fantastic fight against Kennedy McKinney, he was one-half of the excellent Barrera-Morales trilogy.
He is in limbo, stuck in the middle of nowhere while Morales and Pacquiao prepare for their Jan. 21 rematch, a megafight bound to be a repeat of last year’s successful pay-per-view.
Barrera tried his hand at the expensive spotlight, the true test of popularity and stardom, headlining twice in 2005 against Mzonke Fana and Robbie Peden. Yet unlike in November 2004, when he and Morales convinced consumers to spend their hard-earned cash, Barrera’s respective knockout of a mandatory and unanimous decision over a fellow belt-holder were shows read about and not seen. [details]
He is the best of the junior lightweights, a top-notch champion whose only losses in the past eight years were to Erik Morales and Manny Pacquiao, the second- and third-best pugilists in the 130-pound division.
He is the man who sent Naseem Hamed off toward retirement with his tail between his legs, the guy who inaugurated HBO’s Boxing After Dark with a fantastic fight against Kennedy McKinney, he was one-half of the excellent Barrera-Morales trilogy.
He is in limbo, stuck in the middle of nowhere while Morales and Pacquiao prepare for their Jan. 21 rematch, a megafight bound to be a repeat of last year’s successful pay-per-view.
Barrera tried his hand at the expensive spotlight, the true test of popularity and stardom, headlining twice in 2005 against Mzonke Fana and Robbie Peden. Yet unlike in November 2004, when he and Morales convinced consumers to spend their hard-earned cash, Barrera’s respective knockout of a mandatory and unanimous decision over a fellow belt-holder were shows read about and not seen. [details]
Never mind if he doesn't want to fight Eric again because they have met 3 times already. 
Comment