Juan Manuel Marquez vs Marco Antonio Barrera
Out of all of the Marquez/Morales/Pacquiao/Barrera fights I think this is perhaps the only one I have not watched. My first thoughts are it probably happened too late for MAB. There was probably only a short window where both were peaking, probably 03-05 at FW.
Also a shame we never got Moralez vs Marquez, which would probably have needed to happen in the same window. Of course these guys were tied up with fighting each other. At the end of the day you can't really complain about any of the 4 of their careers but it would have been nice to see.
1. 9-10 Barrera. Good opener with plenty thrown and hard shots landed. Barrera started well, then once Marquez got going, Barrera always responded to anything he landed. Some good movement from MAB that you expect to see dry up in the latter rounds
2. 9-10 Barrera. A lot closer than the commentary made it out and I only had Barrera stealing it with the last few shots. Barrera slightly quicker to the punch and counter and probably landing the cleaner shots, but Marquez oputput was superior and landed his share
3. 10-9 Marquez. I feel like they are over-selling the good work of Barrera here. Marquez landing combinations with plenty meat on his shots. He throws nice combination without loading up the right and actually consistently gets more on his 'weaker' left hand shots
4. 10-9 Marquez. I thought both landed a similar number of punches but certainly in the first two minutes it was jabs and the odd body shot from MAB, while JMM landed a variety, including power shots. Interesting to see the change from MAB pressing forward to being pushed back by the end of the round
5. 10-9 Marquez. MAB trying to box with single jabs and single counter shots, his output is becoming more and more conservative. This is why this fight would have been better 3 years earlier. Marquez landing a little bit of everything as he grows nicely into the fight. The right uppercut towards the end a highlight
6. 9-10 Barrera. Upped his work rate, possibly still edged by Marquez on that front but I thought MAB did a better job defending with his guard than he had been with head movement earlier and it allowed him to get closer to trade. The brawl that broke out near the end was good with Barrera maybe just edging that too. Again, that's where I would give Barrera the advantage but at 33 he couldn't sustain this kind of fight (I know JMM is older but he aged better and peaked later)
7. 10-8 Marquez. I've seldom seen a harder round to score, this is a conundrum. Marquez was close to being a 10-8 round, hurting Barrera numerous times. Barrera knocks Marquez down with a legit punch with seconds to go. Then he hits him on the deck. The ref appears not to score the knock down and deducts a point. You have to take the point, because he did hit him well after he hits the floor. I think even without that, I might have scored this round to Marquez, it was that one sided, with the kd making it level. ach fuck knows, I'll accept the refs call and leave it at that.
8. 9-10 Barrera that was a real tough round to score and a really enjoyable one to watch, plenty of good punches landed for either man as the round swung one way then another
9. 10-9 Marquez, similar to the last round. A lovely Marquez left hook on the 1 minute mark stuck in my mind. Barrera rocked hard and comes straight back though, what a mandible.
10. 10-9 Marquez. Seemed reasonably easy to score but Barrera adamant he isn't going to make any of these straight forward came back toward the end
11. 10-9 Marquez. This is his fight to lose on my card now. You know he's landed something good when Barrera throws back, Marquez seems to have sussed this now and moved his head after landing his best shots in this round
12. 10-9 Marquez, Barrera tried to go after him in the last round but Marquez matched him and more which tells you who is the 'younger' fighter. Typical Mexican finish, throwing till the end
116-111 Juan Manuel Marquez.