The expectations were high for Barrera/Morales III and the
end of this epic trilogy lived up to all expectations and then some. This
duel between the two Mexican warriors was everything every fight should be.
It had drama, non-stop action, skillful and precise boxing, evenly matched
opponents, a few surprises, and an exciting toe-to-toe battle that went down
to the wire.
In the first round Marco Antonio Barrera
went to work right away, fighting Eric Morales toe-to-toe while landing quick
and precise combinations. From the start of the fight it was clear that
Barrera was the quicker fighter as he consistently beat Morales to the punch.
In round 2 Morales came out throwing stiff jabs determined to take back the
momentum. Barrera responded with a few good body shots and a beautiful left
uppercut that apparently broke Morales' nose.
For the next four rounds Barrera dominated
the fight by throwing shorter, quicker punches with amazing accuracy. Barrera
also seeming to always get off first and was literally tattooing
Morales with left hooks that all seemed to find their mark, while Morales was
largely ineffective with his long and wide swinging punches, his only
effective weapon being his chopping right hands. Barrera continued to be
successful throwing left hooks and uppercuts. Round 6 ended with Barrera
largely unmarked and Morales bloodied and bruised.
In round 7 Morales, feeling the urgency,
came out very aggressively with hard right hands upstairs. Barrera did very
little, basically taking the entire round off to get rest for the remainder
of the fight. In round 8 the momentum seemed to shift in favor of Morales as
he put together a beautiful 5 punch combination and pounded Barrera to the
body. While prior to round 7 both fighters fought largely on the inside which
favored Barrera, rounds 7 and 8 were fought on the outside where Morales had
the edge.
In round 9 Barrera seeming to realize that
the momentum was changing came out with the intention of regaining the edge
which he managed to do successfully with chopping right hands and left hooks
to the head and the body. In round 10 Barrera was pressing the action, moving
forward, and getting off first. Round 11 began with Morales literally running
out of his corner and trying to knock Barrera out with long, hard
punches. However, while Morales was head hunting Barrera went to work on the
champion’s body switching up at times with left hooks to the head. Both
fighters looked exhausted after the round, and slowly returned to their
respective corners.
Round 12 was fought on pure adrenaline and
heart as both fighters fought on simply because of their will to win and
desire to finish the fight. Both went at each other for the entire three
minutes of round 12, toe-to-toe, punch for punch, and throwing leather till
the sound of the bell.
In the end of this epic fight and the
conclusion of the trilogy it was Barrera who emerged victorious by a majority
decision 114-114, 115-114, 115-113, up two fights to one. This just shows
that all conventional wisdom and boxing knowledge is still a poor indicator
of who will win a fight because all those things do not measure a fighter’s
intelligence and heart.
Morales, unofficially 11 pounds
heavier than Barrera, was beaten by a fighter who was just quicker, more
precise with his punches, and who had a great game plan. Marco Antonio
Barrera a spent fighter? I don’t think so. Despite all the trash talking done
before the fight and the lack of good sportsmanship on behalf of Eric Morales
after the fight when he refused to shake Barrera’s hand, it was still a great
fight. We never expected anything less from these two fighters and in return
they did not let us down. They gave us a fight to remember, a fight that
easily overshadowed all the undercard fights, and a fight that will certainly
find room in boxing history.
Thank you, Marco Antonio Barrera and Eric
Morales for three unbelievable fights that kept us on the edge of our seats.
They came, they fought, they conquered the world of boxing!
