An Assassin?s Swan Song
By Rene Bonsubre, Jr.
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 08 Oct 2007
This is the way a warrior?s carreer ends: not with euphoria, not with a whimper, but in a defiant effort arising from a last stab at glory.
Marco Antonio Barrera?s career is a majestic tapestry of what pugilists struggle to achieve. Lesser mortals ? like you and me ? can only marvel and pay homage. A victorious Manny Pacquiao paid tribute to Barrera after their rematch saying ?He is a fine boxer.? That would be the understatement of the decade.
Eleven years ago, when the cable television industry was booming in the Philippines, Barrera vs. Kennedy McKinney was the first ring war that made my jaw drop, stand up and stare at the courage and brutality unfolding on the screen. There would be many more: his trilogy against Erik Morales, his masterful boxing against Naseem Hamed and his first encounter against
Rocky Juarez. The loss against Juan Manuel Marquez emphasized an obvious fact; the wear and tear of a ring career that started in 1989 had taken its toll.
Ninety percent of fans outside of Mexico expected Pacquiao to tear him to pieces once again. But he was too proud and still too skilled to fall this time around.
Barrera was quoted as saying after the losing the rematch that it would be his last fight. He also paid tribute to Pacquiao and said that he had very good defense and it was hard to break through. There was a time you could not find the words defense and Pacquiao in the same sentence. Credit Freddie Roach with the transformation. Credit also his Mexican opponents.
They made the Pacman strive to be a better fighter.
Yes, we must pay tribute to the vanquished. Without Barrera, Pacquiao would not have had the opportunity to show the world how great he truly is. It is an often repeated boxing adage: To be counted among the elite, you need to beat an elite boxer.
Barrera will leave the ring with the word LEGEND attached to his name. That too would be an understatement.
Top photo: Marco Antonio Barrera of Mexico (L) connects on Manny Pacquiao of Philippines during their super featherweight bout at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada October 6, 2007. REUTERS/Steve Marcus (UNITED STATES)
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Rene Bonsubre, Jr..
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