MARQUEZ BEATS BARRERA IN MEXICAN WAR
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 18 Mar 2007
Juan Manuel Marquez, the WBO interim featherweight champion stepped up to challenge reigning WBC super featherweight champion Marco Antonio Barrera and ended up being crowned the undisputed king in a Mexican war that lived up to all the pre-fight hype.
Although referee Jay Nady made a mess of things by staying too far away from the action and often in the wrong position by ruling a clear knockdown scored by Barrera in the closing seconds of the seventh round a slip, and compounding Barrera’s problems by deducting a point after Barrera hit the fallen Marquez, it was clearly Marquez’ fight.
In fact round seven was probably the turning point in a classic ring battle that brought out the best in the two 33 year olds who looked far from finished as they engaged in several exciting exchanges throughout the twelve rounds. Barrera appeared to have the edge going into round seven although Marquez showed more hand-speed and an uncanny ability to throw three or four punches in succession and switching rapidly from the body to the head.
Marquez nailed Barrera with a cracking right that had the legendary Mexican in trouble but as in all past wars including an epic trilogy with Erik “El Terrible” Morales, Barrera caught Marquez with a perfectly-time counter punch that sent the challenger to his knees.
The tempo picked up from then on and both men engaged in some furious exchanges that had the fans roaring with Marquez connecting with the some excellent combinations and a couple of cracking uppercuts that rocked the head of Barrera.
The two fighters had been bloodied and bruised but their fighting hearts were pumping in one final round of action as neither Barrera or Marquez were ready to back-off. In the end Marquez won the nod of all three judges and deservedly so. Two judges had Marquez the winner 116-111 while the third judge in what appeared to be another travesty had a margin of 118-109 which meant Barrera won only one round.
WBC founding secretary general, lawyer Rudy Salud regretted Pacquiao’s decision to sign two contracts, one with Golden Boy Promotions in mid-September and the other with Top Rank Promotions Bob Arum two months later which resulted in an ugly legal battle to determine who has the legal rights to promote Pacquiao. Salud said Pacquiao “would have caught Barrera as he is going down and knocked him out in five or six rounds at the most and earned at least $7 million dollars. That chance is almost certainly gone now and he will have to face Marquez who is a very dangerous fighter.”
That too is complicated by the fact that Marquez is handled by Golden Boy and is unlikely to be too keen on dealing with Arum unless the courts settle the issue of promotional rights over Pacquiao. Bottom line is that Pacquiao will get a minimum of $2 million fighting an undefeated but unknown Jorge Solis in a fight that will never be able to match what might have been with a Barrera rematch both in terms of exciting action and a megabuck payday.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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