MORALES VS. BARRERA III
POST-FIGHT ANALYSIS

Marco Antonio Barrera wins the rubber match third fight by decision against Erik Morales.

November 28, 2004 - by Bert Sugar

What in the name of the Marquees of Queensberry were TV suits thinking when they came up with the idea of a boxing reality series? One which would give you, as the promo says, "drama-infused boxing competitions"? Those shows can only be called "boxing" for the same reasons raisins can be considered fruits--technically and only in a manner of speaking.

But for the real thing, give me a great boxing match, one dripping with real, not pseudo, drama, one like last Saturday night's was between Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales. Granted, it was in the 130-pound division, a division that normally commands less public attention than the international trade balance, but don't be misled, the size of these two fighters merely obscures a real appreciation of their skills.

Twice before they had met, and each time a great fight was forthcoming. Controversial, yes. But, not incidentally, both worthy of catchall phrases like "Fight of the Year" and a word only the most punctilious of wordsmiths would use: "Great."

Those first two fights had set the stage for a third fight, a rubber match or, as those in the boxing press with cauliflower tongues call it, a "Trilogy." And, judging from last Saturday night's fight, it now belongs up there in the paint cards with such great trilogies as Zale-Graziano, Ali-Foreman, Gatti-Ward, and others remembered only by thinning groups of fight fans with thinning hair who serve as storytellers around the dying embers of boxing's campfires.

Going into the fight, Barrera was thought to be damaged merchandise, having been knocked out by Manny Pacquiao two fights ago and thought to have little chance against Morales. So little, in fact, that the betting odds were almost 2-1, Morales. But for particulars on what happened next, we can only refer you to A. Lincoln's sonnet on "Fooling all the people, " et cetera.

For Barrera, who had come back from defeat before, one time to humiliate Prince Naseem Hamad, constituted a majority of one who knew in the smithy of his soul that he could beat Morales. And had the fight plan to do so.

Believing that the faint of heart never won so much as a scrap of paper, almost before the echoes of the opening bell had died down Barrera tore into Morales, boring into Morales' chest and establishing homesteading rights to the inside. There he proceeded to tattoo Morales with great gobs of punches, serving them up by the plateful, while Morales stood there and took them, suddenly realizing this was not the dish he had ordered.

You could write "ditto" for most of the first six rounds of the fight as Barrera continued to fresco rather that merely gingerly lace the taller frame of Morales, connecting time and again with his left hook, both to body and head.

While the fans of Barrera made known their presence in the MGM Grand arena, cheering with each punch, their roar cascading around the arena and then picking up in crescendo every time it began to ebb, Morales' just sat there, opening and closing their mouths like fish out of water, wondering when their hero would begin to take away the play from the physical loan shark he was fighting.

Finally, in the seventh, Morales, knowing the deficiencies of the day would not be supplied by the morrow, gave up his hopelessly polite stance of waiting for Barrera to punch himself out--a hypothesis no doubt related to something about a watched pot--and began to make up for arrearages by moving to the outside and raking Barrera with head shots. With an obvious disinclination to be second, he continued in his attempt to dissemble Barrera into smaller, neater pieces in Round 8. But in Round 9, Barrera rolled up his sleeves of determination and took control of the fight again, many of his shots coming abruptly from the unknown, as he moved in and then away from Morales' blows to land his own.

By the end of the tenth it was obvious to all, especially those in Morales' corner, that Morales would have to close the show to have a chance of winning. What followed were two of the most action-packed rounds in recent boxing memory as both stood their ground with no caving knee quotient and threw everything left in their bandilleros, leaving the fans in the arena with powers barely those of respiration.

Finally, after 36 minutes of action and six minutes of outright war, with punches so rich and good-looking they reminded observers of something with mushrooms on the side, it was over. And now, as the judges' cards were being tallied, Barrera went over to Morales' corner to shake his hand. But with a look that could cause toast to curl, Morales disdained Barrera's outstretched hand, insuring that at Christmas time there will be no cards exchanged between the two.

As ring announcer Michael Buffer read the judges' scorecards (a majority win for Barrera: 114-114; 115-114-; and 115-113), this time there would be no controversy, no doubt as to the winner in this, the rubber match and superiority in their trilogy.

For Marco Antonio Barrera, this was, as he called it, "the most rewarding fight of my career." And put him in the pantheon of all-time Mexican greats, along with Julio Cesar Chavez and Erik Morales, all of whom now have titles in three weight divisions. For those with an eye for fistic delicacies, it meant a fight, and two fighters, for the ages. And, if you want to see it again--or, incredibly, missed it--you can tune in to HBO this coming Saturday night at 10:45EST to watch and see if you don't agree that the Barrera-Morales trilogy ranks with the all-time great ones.

Reality boxing shows? Phooey! Who needs 'em? This one had it all.