A FIGHT WORTH CHEERING, A DECISION WORTH BOOING - THE MORALES VS BARRERA REMATCH

By Ron Brashear

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (INSIDE BOXING 6/22/2002) - Wow! When I wrote my pre-fight article indicating that this fight would be a toss-up, a flip of the coin, I had no idea that it would be a coin that only had tails on both sides. Apparently these judges were not using their HEADS because there were quite a few rounds where Barrera was getting his TAIL kicked.

Although it didn't quite topple the masterpiece of a boxing performance of their 1st fight back in February of 2000, this was a very nice display of two Mexican superstars show casing their craft in front of a highly charged audience at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, NV. The only disappointment I walk away with is the judging that took place for this fight. Since it was not worthy of capturing the headline or bulk of this story, allow me to begin by discussing the great fight that took place.

As many had expected, Erik Morales came out and showed that he was highly motivated to show the boxing community that he is the superior featherweight boxing champion of the world. Well, in my eyes and viewpoint, he did just that. I viewed the following:

1st rd - A very tactical round in which Erik controlled and kept Barrera off balance with his jab. I gave this round to Morales. 2nd rd - Even though Morales landed slightly a few more punches in this round, Barrera did land a solid left that causes a cut on the bridge of Morales nose. I find that MAYBE, I could score this round for Barrera. So, 1 round apiece going into the third round. 3rd, 4th, 5th rd - seemed to mimic each other with Morales controlling the fight from the outside and using effective aggression with his jab and landing more punches during these rounds. The only time it appeared that momentum shifted at all was perhaps the last 10 seconds of round five when Morales turned his back thinking the 10 second remaining tap, was the end of the round and Barrera charged him and threw a combination that landed after the round appeared to be dominated by Morales up until this point. 6th rd - That spark in the fifth round appeared to wake Barrera up and he now became the aggressor in this round and pressed the attack landing a few combinations to head and body of Morales. I gave this round to Barrera and now my "un-official" score is 4rds to 2rds in favor of Morales. 7th rd - It was this round where a thought a case could have been made to call the body-shot that Morales hit Barrera with a knock down. Instead, it was ruled a slip by referee Jay Nady. Per Compubox stats, Morales landed 19of 50 to Barrera's 13 0f 51, another round for Morales, 5rds to 2rds for Morales. 8th - rd In this round, Barrera did come on and show his effective aggression. However Morales was controlling the round until he made a decision to drop his hands and convert to a southpaw stands. This cost him "big-time" because Barrera caught him with a left hook late in the round that caused Morales' eye to swell and the punch opened a cut on his right eye. This became the 3rd round that I actually gave Barrera. So now I have the fight 5rds to 3rds favoring Morales. 9th - rd Barrera came out charged and continued his attack as he could see that Morales' eye was swelling. Barrera landed the more solid shots in the round and I could see giving him this round. Now I have it 5rds to 4rds, no knockdowns, so I still have Morales leading the fight going into the tenth round. 10th - rd Morales appeared to have turned the momentum back around in this round by landing solid jabs to the head of Barrera as well as solid right hands to the body. Barrera even staggered from what looked like a solid body shot from Morales. I thought this was Morales' round, and I now have a 6rds to 4rds lead for Erik Morales. 11th - rd This was a really good round of exchanges and I personally thought it was an even round. Even if Barrera edged this round out, it would have made it 6rds to 5rds for Morales going into the 12th and final round. 12th - rd I do think Barrera won this final round by being more aggressive and pressing the attack. About mid-way through the round, these two fighters stood toe-to-toe for some great exchanges of headshots. However, neither man was staggered or appeared to be hurt.

So, from what I saw, this fight should have been a narrow decision win by Morales (due to me scoring the 11th round even), or I could see this fight as a draw. Here is what the judges turned in. Chuck Giampa had the fight 116-112 for Barrera, and both, Mike lienna & Duane Ford had the fight scored 115-113 for Barrera. Therefore, Barrera was awarded a unanimous decision.

Not to say that my scoring is right, and the judges scoring is wrong, but I do struggle with the 116-112 score. Its hard to imagine that Barrera got that much accomplished in a fight where he didn't seem to turn on his fight button at all until the second half of the fight. Oh well, when there is not a knock out, and two fighters are pretty evenly matched, this is what you have, DECISIONS. Somebody has to make them, and I'm sure the one made on this night by these three judges, will not be the last one made that we be disputed or debated.

In closing, regardless of who was voted as the winning fighter on this night, the boxing fans were treated to a very competitive and good fight between two great featherweights! These fighters have a great deal of respect for each other now and I would look forward to seeing a third fight between the two of them. I just hope the outcome could be such that the DECISION from the judge's is not what determines the winner. The country of Mexico should feel real proud of both, Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales. Thanks for giving the fight fans their money's worth!

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Ron Brashear can be contacted at brashear@insideboxing.com, ron@brasheargear.com