Barrera vs Pacquiao SPOILER.

[stujones]

Manny Pacquiao has successfully dethroned Featherweight king Marco Antinio Barrera with the an 11th round TKO in a suprisingly one sided fight.

I don't think I feel a stunned by this result since the way Hopkins handed Trinidad a lesson two years ago. Sounds like we have a new era in Featherweight boxing and also a change of guard in the P4P scene.

Jones struggles, Barrera and DLH both lose, with Tszyu and Hopkins getting on in years it seems like these faboulous boxers are losing their strangle hold on world boxing.

[REAL_DEAL]

yes i cant believe the result.

calzaghe surely must be high in the p 4 p now

[Eric the Viking]

Don't forget Julio Gonzalez handing DM his first loss - definitely a big year for the upset (or in Jones' case, the near-upset.)

[The_Power]

It has been an impossible year to predict, with so many upsets.

The change of guard as it was put, will be very interesting to watch.

[stujones]

Well, I am sure most have seen the fight now - what did everyone think?

I found it quite unconfortable viewing, I have never seen Barrera take such a beating. He was beaten to the punch time and time again and Pacquiao was hurting the iron man on several occasions. As I have said I did celebrate Barrera's victory over Naz and I think Marco is possibly my favourite overseas fighter, so it was hard to watch.

It was a strange fight, I'm still not convinced about Pacquiao to be honest. Obviously, he's an excellent fighter and belongs in the featherweight and P4P mix - but I still think the old Barerra would have been to much for him. The handspeed was the major difference here, however I just thought Barrera was sluggish last night, the Barrera who faught Morales was quicker than Pacquiao in my opinion. Manny had alot of defensive holes and fights quite similar to Mayorga, you would have thought Barrera would have handled him easily - but he couldn't.

So what was wrong with Marco - age and wear are certainly a possibility, he's had alot of fights and many wars and perhaps they've caught up with him. His preparation for this fight both in and out of the ring has not been ideal. Victories over an old Kevin Kelley and an injured (torn rotator cuff) Johnny Tapia was not ideal preparation. Critics may say that Marco has shown wear since his 2nd fight with Morales, because he wasn't overly impressive against Kelley. However, I'm sure if he'd faced an Inchin Chi or Michael Brodie he would have been better prepared for this fight.

His out of ring preparation was also not ideal. Dispute with his manager resulting in the health scares about him being publisised must have affected him. As did his problems with the training fascilities.

I don't want to take anything away from Pacquiao, but that wasn't the Marco of old in there - not even close. Perhaps he's got some issues with the weight, but I doubt it. Perhaps he took Manny lightly. Marco has signalled his intentions to fight on, and I'm glad. He can't end his career like this. There might be a rematch clause, and I'm still going for Barrera in that one. I might be the only guy on earth to back him, but I think Marco can be about 30 % better than that.

[jamesmcdonnell]

I've heard he had weight troubles, and there were distractions outside
the ring, but the bottom line is this: Marco has never faced anyone with
the combinaiton of speed and power that

Also, just like Hamed didn't expect Barrera to counterbox him, Marco didn't expect Manny to be darting around all over the place like a jack in the box. I have never seen Pacquaio move like that before, nor fight with such sustained aggression.

Had Manny taken the fight at a slower pace, Marco wouldn't have looked so bad, Manny made him look like a statue, and his body shots crippled Barrera.

I think Manny finally produced his best in there, and Barrera just wasn't up for the kind of fight Manny brought, and I am not convinced that he would have been able to deal with it at any stage in his career.

Manny's handspeed is pretty phenomenal, especially when you consider the force each shot is thrown with, his footwork looked excellent, and his timing of his shots was fabulous. Look at how accurate he was with those shots.

Pacquaio landed an amazing 45% of his power shots, he wasn't just winging away in there, he devastated Barerra with lightning combinations which began downstairs, and ratlled up to his head, jolting him every time.

When Barrera did try to brawl, he had a measure of success, but as soon as he did so, Manny upped the tempo and fired off combinations which were twice as fast, and would sustain it.

I picked Barrera to win, now, I'm a big believer in Manny, and if he can get past Marquez, who stylitically is different to Marco, and who is every bit as hungry as Manny, then we have a future great on our hands, he's still only 24, and there could be a lot yet to come.

I won't be elevating him way up the P4P rankings just yet, but I have a feeling we haven't even seen the best of Manny yet, Roach has polished off some of the rough edges now, and if he can turn the athelte into an all around fighter, and he can maintain that desire, he'll be a real killer.

[Eric the Viking]

Let's not forget to give a lot of credit to Pac-Man's trainer Freddie Roach. (Now why does that name sound so familiar? ;))

What a year it's been for Freddie and his fighters, eh?

[REAL_DEAL]

Let's not forget to give a lot of credit to Pac-Man's trainer Freddie Roach. (Now why does that name sound so familiar? ;))

What a year it's been for Freddie and his fighters, eh?

yes the ones who he has been with, on the night

[MightyWarrior]

All Hail The Pac-Man!!

Tremendous win, old MAB was never at the races.
Is Manny the greatest fighter to come out of the Philippines? Haven't checked but I'm sure someone will enlighten me!

Looks like the best feather on the planet to me - awesome speed and knockout power look like being too much for even the top Mexicans.

Say Harrison gets by Medina next week - do we think his chin good enough to withstand Manny's power? Would be an fantastic fight - anyone give the Scotsman a chance if they met? If he hits his previous form next Sat night, I'd give him a shot at winning that one...

[stujones]

Scott Harrison has no chance against Pacquiao. He's all wrong for him, too fast on his feet and on hand. Even if Harrison was ill last time, he couldn't handle Pacquiao.

Seen the fight for the second time (less tired) and I got it wrong with my initial post. I didn't give Pacquiao enough respect, he really was (as Bunce said) faultless. The body shots really did some damage. I still think that Barrera wasn't half the fighter who beat Morales, and I still think he can come back an maybe win the rematch. However, he'll have to be at his very best.

I think Pacquiao is not the same fighter on the back foot, I think we need a fighter who will take his shots and not get hurt, and keep the pressure. I think Scott Harrison will be to slow, even if he can walk through Pacquiao solid punches.

However, I thought Inchin Chi, Jaun Manuel Marquez and maybe even Johnny Tapia have the style to give him problems. All three don't take a backward step and have fast hands. Barrera can aswell, but needs to change his strategy.

[jamesmcdonnell]

Who is going to take those shots, it will take someone who can hit him and hurt him from range like Morales to cause Pacman problems. The way he was moving against Barrera though, you need a fast pair of hands to catch him consistently.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Pacman at 130, after all he came in big for this fight, maybe in a couple of years if he's still riding high.

Someone like Harrison has a good chin, but he's slooooooow around the ring, he's very static, and though he takes a good shot, he wouldn't last as long as Barrera, maybe 6-7 rounds at the most, he'd get drilled. Brodie is hittable too, as is Chi.

Marquez has skills, tuiming and power, but he doesn't have Pacquiao's blistering speed, it would be interesting to see how he would fare.

[TerribleTerry]

Pac Man was beautifull to watch against a Barrera who just was not at the races.

It seemed very strange to see Barrera, long thought of as a complete warrior, turning to the ref and complaining at every opportunity. It reminded me a little of how JC Chavez became towards the end of his career...

Barrera's lack of speed in this fight really hurt him. Where were the fast, powerfull combination punching of the first Morales fight? I really think MAB struggled to get motivated for the Phillipino Super Bantam and when he realised he was not going to win by blowout, it was already too late.

Pac Man would beat Harrison like a drum, moving in and out with hard and fast combos.
Can't wait to see how Pac Man establishes himself at this new weight. What would be the chance of Morales coming back down in weight to attempt to restore Mexican pride? What a war that could be...

[bennie]

Is Manny the greatest fighter to come out of the Philippines?

Flash Elorde was the great fighter in the 60's out of the Philippines, but Manny does look special.

[IKSRTFO]

Wow..Classic. Maybe I was a late bloomer but this was the first time I saw Pac fight and I was shocked as Barerra became my favorite after shutting Naz up.

[terminator]

LOL who would've guessed he would have carried his power and speed up to welterweight and have wins over De La Hoya and Hatton?

[ApolloCreed]

Nice one. Very interesting. Cheers for bringing this up.

[Nightmare Roy]

It aint gonna happen against cotto, as much as i admire Pac man. This time he is in too deep.

Ps 21 gigga watts DD

[TerribleTerry]

Wow. Old threads like this make me realise that I need to find a different way to spend my spare time. 6 years is a long time to spend bullshitting about a single sport. Who the hell spells beautiful with two l's anyway??..

[terminator]

Looks like Pac has a decent chin at welterweight as well