The Top 100 Greatest Boxers Pound per Pound of All-Time

[elmersalsa]

My favorite Mexican fighters were Julio Cesar Chavez and Vicente Saldivar

Speaking of Saldivar, once upon a time, there was a man nicknamed "El Zurdo de Oro".

Enrique Sanchez, like Saldivar, was nicknamed "El Zurdo de Oro". He was also a former WBA World Super Bantamweight Champion.

But, to compare himself with the original Zurdo de Oro would be a complete travesty. A blasphemy! This guy was not in Saldivar's level to begin with. Saldivar was ten times better.

How did he get that nickname?

Sanchez of Mexico was 28-1-2, with 21KOs. Now, he wants Marco Antonio Barrera's IBO World Featherweight championship belt.

He had no chance. It was a complete shutout for 6 rounds of action in which Sanchez went to the canvas 3 times.

Barrera wins his 5th straight fight in extraordinary fashion and many people is wondering if he is going to fight his nemesis and countryman Erik "El Terrible" Morales again.

Barrera was ranked right then with the very best of the game. And he looked sharp and in his complete prime.

Barrera wins by TKO in the 6th round. And improves to 54-3, 1NC, with 39 knockout wins.

Barrera is looking terrific ever since ‘lol losing to "Poison" Junior Jones, twice.

By the way, Julio Cesar Chavez was a fighter that I loved to watch. I will always remember how impressive he was methodically pounding Edwin Rosario into submission, walking through Rosario’s powerful punches. And the way he cut off the ring against Hector Camacho, giving the most masterful application of punishment to a talented mobile fighter that I’ve even seen. Salvador Sanchez was another favorite of mine. Classy, tough, and skillful. No matter the circumstances in a particular fight, his facial expressions never seemed to change!—Mark

You got it right. Salvador Sanchez facial expression never changed during a fight. Always calm, cool and collected with a deep concentration on his opponent in front of him.

To me, Sanchez was one of the most complete fighters of my lifetime.

[elmersalsa]

My favorite Mexican fighters were Julio Cesar Chavez and Vicente Saldivar

Speaking of Saldivar, once upon a time, there was a man nicknamed "El Zurdo de Oro".

Enrique Sanchez, like Saldivar, was nicknamed "El Zurdo de Oro". He was also a former WBA World Super Bantamweight Champion.

But, to compare himself with the original Zurdo de Oro would be a complete travesty. A blasphemy! This guy was not in Saldivar's level to begin with. Saldivar was ten times better.

How did he get that nickname?

Sanchez of Mexico was 28-1-2, with 21KOs. Now, he wants Marco Antonio Barrera's IBO World Featherweight championship belt.

He had no chance. It was a complete shutout for 6 rounds of action in which Sanchez went to the canvas 3 times.

Barrera wins his 5th straight fight in extraordinary fashion and many people is wondering if he is going to fight his nemesis and countryman Erik "El Terrible" Morales again.

Barrera was ranked right then with the very best of the game. And he looked sharp and in his complete prime.

Barrera wins by TKO in the 6th round. And improves to 54-3, 1NC, with 39 knockout wins.

Barrera is looking terrific ever since losing to "Poison" Junior Jones, twice.

We also have to mention that 3 days after this fight of Marco Antonio Barrera vs Enrique Sanchez, that the September 11th, 2001 attacks of NYC Twin Towers happened.

America and American society was never the same.

[The Balletic Bomber]

My favorite Mexican fighters were Julio Cesar Chavez and Vicente Saldivar

Speaking of Saldivar, once upon a time, there was a man nicknamed "El Zurdo de Oro".

Enrique Sanchez, like Saldivar, was nicknamed "El Zurdo de Oro". He was also a former WBA World Super Bantamweight Champion.

But, to compare himself with the original Zurdo de Oro would be a complete travesty. A blasphemy! This guy was not in Saldivar's level to begin with. Saldivar was ten times better.

How did he get that nickname?

Sanchez of Mexico was 28-1-2, with 21KOs. Now, he wants Marco Antonio Barrera's IBO World Featherweight championship belt.

He had no chance. It was a complete shutout for 6 rounds of action in which Sanchez went to the canvas 3 times.

Barrera wins his 5th straight fight in extraordinary fashion and many people is wondering if he is going to fight his nemesis and countryman Erik "El Terrible" Morales again.

Barrera was ranked right then with the very best of the game. And he looked sharp and in his complete prime.

Barrera wins by TKO in the 6th round. And improves to 54-3, 1NC, with 39 knockout wins.

Barrera is looking terrific ever since ‘lol losing to "Poison" Junior Jones, twice.

By the way, Julio Cesar Chavez was a fighter that I loved to watch. I will always remember how impressive he was methodically pounding Edwin Rosario into submission, walking through Rosario’s powerful punches. And the way he cut off the ring against Hector Camacho, giving the most masterful application of punishment to a talented mobile fighter that I’ve even seen. Salvador Sanchez was another favorite of mine. Classy, tough, and skillful. No matter the circumstances in a particular fight, his facial expressions never seemed to change!—Mark

You got it right. Salvador Sanchez facial expression never changed during a fight. Always calm, cool and collected with a deep concentration on his opponent in front of him.

To me, Sanchez was one of the most complete fighters of my lifetime.

Sánchez shared The Ring’s Fighter of the year award for 1981 with Sugar Ray Leonard. With Sanchez’ passing and Leonard’s detached retina apparently ending his career at the time, boxing suffered huge blows in

[The Balletic Bomber]

huge blows in 1982. Take care elmersalsa-Mark

[elmersalsa]

i

huge blows in 1982. Take care elmersalsa-Mark

Thanks, my friend!

[Jaywheel]

We talking to ourselves now?

[tiny_acres]

We talking to ourselves now?

If it wasn't for his split personality he would have no one to talk to

[elmersalsa]

As champions that fought each other before, Marco Antonio Barrera, the great Bay Faced Assassin from Mexico City, Mexico fights his countryman and nemesis Erik "El Terrible" Morales of Tijuana.

This time, the fight wasn't as violent and entertaining as the first. Well, not many second fights have surpassed the originals. But, this fight was much more of an strategic approach than the slugfest that was 2 years earlier. Still, a good fight. They put hands, blood and tears for this fight.

[elmersalsa]

It's hard to score when two talented fighters match their will and skills against each other.

I scored the fight and again, I saw the great Erik "El Terrible" Morales winning the fight by 115-113 score.

But, the ring judges saw otherwise. Was this a fix up of the judges that according to them, messed up the scoring in the first fight in favor of Marco Antonio Barrera?

I don't know. But here are two talented boxers that are hard to judge of who was really the best fighter. It's like when I scored the Ken Buchanan-Ismael Laguna fights. I come with the conclusion that it's very hard to judge a fight between two great talented boxers.

Barrera is on a six-fight winning streak. He takes out Morales' undefeated record. So, in 2 successive fights, he takes the undefeated records of Morales and Prince Naseem Hamed.

El Terrible loses for the first time after starting a 41-fight winning streak from the beginning of his career.

[elmersalsa]

With a sensational record of 55 wins, 3 losses and 39 knockout wins, the Mexican legend, the great Baby Faced Assassin, Marco Antonio Barrera was in his seventh straight win when he fought former triple crown world champion Johnny "La Vida Loca" Tapia of Alburquerque, NM.

Tapia, at 35, was thought to be out of his prime. He had a tremendous record of 52 wins, 2 losses, and 2 draws with 28 fights wins by knockout.

Tapia was Super flyweight, Bantamweight and super Bantamweight former world champion and was looking for his 4th world title. His lovely and beautiful wife, Theresa, was his manager.

Tapia since birth had a long list of personal demons in his life. That's why they called him "La Vida Loca" (The Crazy Life). His mother was murdered in front of his eyes when he was 8. His father was in prison when Tapia was born. He learned the trade if throwing fists by his paternal grandfather. When he was a boy, his uncles put bets on him while fighting sometimes guys that were much bigger than he.

Tapia's life was a rough one. He was pronounced dead in 5 different occasions of substantial drug abuse and survived all 5 times.

The ONLY JOY in his life besides boxing was his wife and children.

But, boy did Johnny loved to fight. He indeed loved it. He was a true warrior that is in the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, NY. And deservedly so.

But, in this night, it was Tapia's "Last Hurrah" and payday. His attempt to win another world championship was not to be. He simply lost to a better champion in Barrera that was HOT and in his PRIME. Barrera was fighting his 5th straight opponent that previously held a world crown.

Ever since his 2 losses to former champion Junior Jones of Brooklyn, NY, Barrera has been on a tear. He avenged his loss of his great countryman Erik "El Terrible" Morales the fight before this one and beat the terrible knockout artist Prince Naseem Hamed of England. Both of them he beat with a different style of boxing skills. Barrera was improving his skills as a boxer. At mid-point career crisis, he converted from slugger to boxer. He became a complete fighter.

And that was the difference between these two when they met. Barrera was just plainly better against La Vida Loca. He used his jab and beautiful counterpunching to offset the wild crowd-pleasing Tapia, who did the best he could, but the 28-year old prime champion won comfortably by Unanimous decision.

It is the 5th world champion that the Baby Faced Assassin beats in a row. A sensational feat in any era.

Barrera, The Ring Magazine's World Featherweight Champion, improves to 56-3, 1NC, with 39 knockouts.

In the year 2007, Johnny Tapia dies at age 40 of causes of tatoo piercing. He had lots of tattoos in his fighting body.

[elmersalsa]

Now, The Baby Faced Assassin from Mexico City, Mexico, Marco Antonio Barrera, 29, is the Ring Magazine's World Featherweight Champion.

According to the magazine, he was the real champion of the featherweight division. He was defending against American- former World champion Kevin Kelley of New York City via Flushing. The fight was over from the beginning of the fight.

Barrera improves to 57-3 (1NC), with 40KOs.

It was the sixth consecutive world boxing champion that Barrera beats in a row.

[elmersalsa]

Now, The Baby Faced Assassin from Mexico City, Mexico, Marco Antonio Barrera, 29, is the Ring Magazine's World Featherweight Champion.

According to the magazine, he was the real champion of the featherweight division. He was defending against American- former World champion Kevin Kelley of New York City via Flushing. The fight was over from the beginning of the fight.

Barrera improves to 57-3 (1NC), with 40KOs.

It was the sixth consecutive world boxing champion that Barrera beats in a row.

Barrera wins by a 4th round TKO. Kelley didn't have anything to offer that night. He was completely flat.

[elmersalsa]

There's a saying that "Every dog has his day". In the boxing world through the years it has been a cliche.

For example, there was Donald Curry, the undefeated and Undisputed World Welterweight Champion from Forth Worth, TX was in his total complete prime and 3 years as champion. He was considered by the boxing writers of the time in 1986 along with the great Undisputed World Middleweight Champion Marvelous Marvin Hagler of Brockton, MA as the 2 best fighters in the world.

An anticipated showdown between the two was in the works to see who was the best fighter in the world. But, out of nowhere, a Jamaican born fighter fighting out of London, England came and gave The Lone Star Cobra, Curry, a shellacking beating in 6 rounds. The fight with Marvelous was out of the window. Curry was never the same fighter after that.

Well, Marco Antonio Barrera was also in the best moment of his career when up to this point, he beat 6 boxing world champions in a row since the year 2000. They were: Jesus Salud ( WTKO6), Prince Naseem Hamed (W12), Enrique Sanchez (WTKO6), Erik "El Terrible" Morales in the rematch (W12), Johnny Tapia (W12), and Kevin Kelley (WTKO4. And for that reason, The Ring Magazine gave him The Ring World Featherweight Championship Belt as the true champion of the 126lb class.

The next victim was supposed to be former Flyweight and Super Bantamweight World Champion named Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines. Pacquiao, a Pinoy southpaw boxer, was 25 years old. Manny who??? Who is this guy? Isn't that the same guy that later became an all-time great by winning world championship crowns in 8 different classes until the 2010s decade? Yes, that's him. At this stage, however, Pacquiao was only known in his native Philippines and by hard core boxing enthusiasts.

Nicknamed Pacman, he ate the Baby Faced Assassin in front of a Partisan pro-Mexican crowd in San Antonio, TX.

Barrera could not cope with the Pinoy's speed. And for many, they could not believe what was happening to Barrera. He was getting his ass kicked.

An accidental clash of heads in round 7 opened a big gash on Barrera's left eyelid. It was nasty. So nasty that Barrera didn't recover his will to fight, even though he won the first round in a slip of feet entanglements when Pacman went down and the referee gave him an eight count.

But, from round 2 on, it was all the Filipino star. He dropped Barrera in round 3 with a fast straight left hand. And carried the fight and the title until round 11 when Barrera's cornermen saw enough. They had to stop the fight.

This was the beginning of super stardom for one guy and probably the end of an era close to Barrera. Even though he won more significant fights later, he wasn't the same fighter. Just like it happened to Curry.

Barrera loses his Ring Magazine Real World Featherweight Championship belt and Pacquiao is the new real King. A stunning performance that Barrera was never dominated in that fashion.

Barrera drops to 57-4, 1NC, with 40KOs.

[elmersalsa]

Next for Barrera, is a fight with former WBA World Bantamweight Champion and 1999's The Ring Fighter of the Year Paulie Ayala.

[elmersalsa]

In a non-title fight in June 19, 2004 in a Saturday night at the Home Depot Center in Carson, CA, the Baby Faced Assassin, Marco Antonio Barrera of Mexico City, Mexico fights former WBA World Bantamweight Champion and Ring Magazine's 1999 Fighter of the Year Paulie Ayala of Forth Worth, TX.

Ayala, 34, was looking for probably his last great pay day. He had a decent fight record of 32-2 with 12KOs and twice beat Johnny Tapia who was one of the late 90s decade best champions.

The fight supposed to be a war. A slugfest. It was a big disappointment. Barrera was too much and masterful, outboxing the ring veteran that didn't bring nothing for the fight. Ayala, a southpaw, lost every damn round. In round 8, he went down twice by a left hook to the ribs. It was all over in the 10th when Barrera hit him again in the ribs with the same left hook.

I don't know why it was a 12-round fight. A 10-rounder would have been enough.

Anyway, Barrera improves to 55-4, 1NC, with 41KOs.

Next fight for Barrera: the rubber-match with his countryman, the great Erik "El Terrible" Morales.

[elmersalsa]

And the long-waiting rubber-match between these two great Mexican warriors finally came through.

Marco Antonio Barrera of Mexico City and Erik "El Terrible" Morales of Tijuana would put their reputation on the line to see who was the better fighter between the two. This was the greatest Mexican boxing trilogy of all-time at the highest level. Both fighters hated each other to the level of taking their heads off from each other. To kill if necessary. The rivalry between the two was very intense. One of the greatest boxing rivalries of all-time.

They fought each other once at Super Bantamweight. Morales won by decision. They fought again two years later at featherweight. This time, Barrera won and Morales suffered his first ever defeat. And now, they're fighting at Jr Lightweight for Morales' WBC World Super Featherweight Crown.

Both were claiming the throne of the great Julio Cesar Chavez as who is the best Mexican idol in boxing of the moment.

In Terrible's view, he felt that the Mexican boxing fans had him under Barrera, when in fact in his view he felt that he was the better fighter. He beat every fighter that Barrera could not beat: Junior Jones (twice) and later the great Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines that gave Barrera an ass whupping.

But, probably why the Mexican fans loved Barrera more than El Terrible was because first, Barrera is from Mexico City. And second, he beat the crap of loudmouth Prince Naseem Hamed of Sheffield, England. Hamed was at the time undefeated and one of the best super stars of the boxing world. After losing to Barrera, he didn't make a comeback. That made Barrera a hero that stole the hearts of the Mexican fans.

Or probably, Barrera was loved more because he was always the underdog fighter that fought anyone. That got up after being knocked down off his throne in his 4 losses.

The rubber-match did not disappoint at all. It was as good as their first fight. Both of them threw leather after leather non stop. The hatred was surreal. It is fascinating, that two evenly matched fighters, fought 36 rounds of hatred with a an unforgettable and unbelievable pace.

Barrera dominated from the start with fierce punching combinations. Wicked left hooks and uppercuts. Morales dominated the second half of the fight. But, it was a little too late.

After 12 glorious and grueling rounds, the winner by majority decision and new WBC World Super Featherweight Champion: the Baby Faced Assassin, the great Marco Antonio Barrera!

This win uplifted Barrera's career and cemented his legacy proving who was the better fighter between the two. Barrera won his second world crown. Others would claim that he won his third world crown in his 3rd weight class. (I don't recognize the WBO as a boxing entity). Barrera was WBO Super Bantamweight Champion, WBC World Featherweight and now WBC World Super Featherweight Champion.

This trilogy ended on Saturday, November 27, 2004 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas, NV. It was the best trilogy of the 2000s decade.

[elmersalsa]

Barrera improves at 59-4, 1NC with 41KOs.
Morales loses for the second time in his career, with the same fighter and drops to 47-2, with 34KOs.

As who is to say who was the better fighter between the two, is like saying who was better between Pele and Maradona in football. Both were equally matched. Both were equally in skill. And both were warriors of the first order.

Barrera never beat Junior Jones of Brooklyn, NY. Terrible did. Barrera never beat the great Manny Pacquiao. Terrible did.

But, Barrera has two wins over Morales in which could go either way, especially the 1st and 3rd fights. In my opinion, Morales won the second fight outright, but the judges saw Barrera win.

But no matter the judging, if these two fight 20 times, the twenty times would go to the distance. And the twenty times could go either way. They were so evenly matched.

[elmersalsa]

Also, it was Marco Antonio Barrera's last great win. After that, he suffered a decline after 4 title defenses of his new belt.

[elmersalsa]

Marco Antonio Barrera, the Baby Faced Assassin from Mexico City, Mexico only had 2 fights in the year 2005.

At age 31, Barrera defeated Mzonke Fana of South Africa (22-2, 8KOs), in only 2 rounds.

Fana was on a 12-fight win streak but against unknown world class competition, mostly from his country of South Africa.

The fight was at the Don Haskins Center in El Paso, TX.

Barrera improves to 60-4, 1NC, with 42KOs.

[elmersalsa]

On September 17th, 2005, Barrera unifies the belt at 130lbs against IBF World Jr. Lightweight Champion Robbie Peden of Australia.

Barrera, the WBC World Super Featherweight Champion, won easily by Unanimous decision showing his class as a complete fighter.

Peden, who dropped to 25-3, with 14KOs, didn't show or didn't bring nothing to the table, even though he had good boxing skills. His left arm was constantly low, and he didn't throw enough punches to be in the fight. Barrera single handedly carried the fight.

Barrera improves to 61-4, 1NC with 42KOs.

The fight was at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas

[Wee Tommy]

Nearly four months on MAB.

Most absurd thread I’ve ever seen. Even Kronks “Am I mentally ill” thread makes more sense.

[Wee Tommy]

On September 17th, 2005, Barrera unifies the belt at 130lbs against IBF World Jr. Lightweight Champion Robbie Peden of Australia.

Barrera, the WBC World Super Featherweight Champion, won easily by Unanimous decision showing his class as a complete fighter.

Peden, who dropped to 25-3, with 14KOs, didn't show or didn't bring nothing to the table, even though he had good boxing skills. His left arm was constantly low, and he didn't throw enough punches to be in the fight. Barrera single handedly carried the fight.

Barrera improves to 61-4, 1NC with 42KOs.

The fight was at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas

Did he aye?

[Jaywheel]

Even Kronks “Am I mentally ill” thread makes more sense.

[Wee Tommy]

Even Kronks “Am I mentally ill” thread makes more sense.

He’s recounting some of MABs most meaningless fights as well. Bizarre.

[Jaywheel]