MAY THE BEST JAB WIN - BARRERA DOMINATES TAPIA
By Ron Brashear
Inside Boxing Writer/Columnist
INSIDE BOXING (11/02/02)- While Marco Antonio Barrera is known for his ability to brawl, it was the amazing success of his jab that grabbed the headline for this fight story. Barrera improved his record to (56-3-0, 39 KOs) with a one-sided domination win over Johnny Tapia, who is now (52-3-2, 28 KOs) with a unanimous 12-round decision.
Barrera showcased a skill-set that can only spell more trouble for any Featherweight that he faces in the future. Marco was able to land an astonishing 179 out of 467 jabs (38%) to control this fight from the opening bell throughout the entire fight. Two of the three judges saw the fight at 118-110, while one judge scored it 116-112. I also saw this fight as 118-110 and was only able to make a case for Johnny winning 2 out of 12 rounds.
After the fight, Barrera stated, " My corner told me to go out there and control the fight with my jab, we didn't want any accidents to happen, and that's what we did. I like boxing. I hope the people liked it, hopefully I have learned how to box. But if the people don't like it, we can always change."
My hat is off to Johnny Tapia for taking Barrera the distance, especially given the fact that he was being hit 3-times more often than he was landing his punches. Johnny was only able to land 17 out of 221 jabs (8%). The overall connect rate, per Compubox was 323 out of 800 for Barrera versus 124 out of 509 for Tapia.
What's next for Barrera? "I'm not sure, I will fight anybody. HBO has the last say so." Barrera also indicated that he will be cheering on fellow Mexican fighter Erik Morales on the 16th of November when he takes on Paulie Ayala.
What's next for Tapia? "I would like to do it again!" Maybe we could fight again if he would give me another chance. Sell out the crowd, give him a good fight, bang again, get two more black-eyes an then go home again."
Well fight fans, hopefully what is next for Barrera, is him taking on the winner of the Morales vs. Ayala bout. Not to take anything away from Ayala, but I would expect that Morales will be the victor and BARRERA vs. MORALES III will become a reality.
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Ron Brashear can be contacted at brashear@insideboxing.com, ron@brashear.com