BoxRec

Barrera, Morales & Marquez.
Who is the best off the three- all time wise. I think a legitamate case can be made for all three.nothing much really seperates them. I'll go out on a limb and say Marco. On account of two wins over Erik and his domination of Hamed.
What say you?

I would say Marquez cause he fared the best against other great fighters

I'd honestly say Marquez as well, followed by Barrera, followed by Morales. You're splitting hairs, though, really. Just depends on what you prefer.

agree on splitting hairs, and like i said a strong case can be made for either. Though Marquez at this stage has a good opportunity to really cement top spot, because he is still fighting at a very high level, while Morales has done better than i expected in his comeback. As much world titles have been devalued over the years, ecoming the first mexican to win titles in four weights is still a great acheivment. I may have a bit of bias here because Barrera is one of, if not my favorite fighter ever

Agree with all said here.

Marquez is my pick for #1.

I'm a huge fan of Barrera but Marquez gets my pick here.

Desperatly seeking Saad's approval, I'll go out on a limb and say Morales.

I'll be odd man out and say at their peak Barrera was the better overall. However if you must add longevity...and admittedly this is pretty important....I'd say JMM could end up with the upper hand at careers end. But as has been mentioned there's barely a whisker between these three.

Jaywheel wrote:Desperatly seeking Saad's approval, I'll go out on a limb and say Morales.

Far from a limb, that is the correct answer followed by Barrera. Though Marquez is closing on them with his late run.

its close maybe we can still see morales vs marquez at lww although morales is past his best, but still would be a cracker, i think marquez is the better fighter but it really is close.

i'll also add- one thing that gets overlooked a bit IMO, is how a past it Barrera gave Marquez a pretty rough time. They are the same age i think (?) but obviously Marquez' style of fighting is better suited to a long career.
How old wasJuan when he turned pro? I know the other two started very young, 16 or 15

thunderfromdownunder wrote:i'll also add- one thing that gets overlooked a bit IMO, is how a past it Barrera gave Marquez a pretty rough time. They are the same age i think (?) but obviously Marquez' style of fighting is better suited to a long career.
How old wasJuan when he turned pro? I know the other two started very young, 16 or 15

Marquez turned pro at 20. Barrera at 15. Not sure about Morales, off-hand.

If the judges would've correctly scored the third Pacquiao fight Marquez would have a great argument for a nice slight leg-up, but some of the trouble lies in the fact that his success came both later and at a higher weight than Morales and Barrera.

Barrera may wind up in third when it's all said and done since Marquez and Morales are still out there throwing wrenches into everyone's plans.

Morales is just a nuisance (albeit a surprise one), whereas Marquez is a reigning champion.

I wouldnt classify them together as of now, and damn right Marquez beat Pacquiao last go-round. That decision stank.

Goodnight, Irene wrote:Morales is just a nuisance (albeit a surprise one), whereas Marquez is a reigning champion.

I wouldnt classify them together as of now, and damn right Marquez beat Pacquiao last go-round. That decision stank.

Morales is technically a champion now too.

I know what you mean though, Marquez' positioning as a champ and his P4P spot is on much more solid ground in terms of accomplishment and the type of opponents he could flourish against.

I think Morales' decline has leveled off for right now, so it'll be interesting to see what he does from Garcia forward. Marquez could probably fight for another 5 years if he wanted to but I think he's gonna have the urge to say goodbye to the sport before age 40.

3 of my all time favorites, all of them. For me they really made boxing a MUST-SEE sport in the early 2000s when the other divisions seemed to be falling in quality.
If we're talking about career standing/accomplishments, I'd have it Morales, Marquez, and Barrera.

If we are talking who was the best fighter in their prime, I'll say Marquez, Morales, Barrera, but this is basically splitting hairs as I think on any given night they could've beaten one another prime for prime.

Barrera had the VERY slight edge in the Morales trilogy but I think the Hamed win is overblown . . does anyone believe Hamed wouldn't have lost to any of the three?? The two Jones losses and the fact that MAB couldn't do ANYTHING with Pacquao really hurts his standing with me . . the other two managed to beat Pac at least once and give him tough scraps in the others (save the third Morales fight). But HBO REALLY loved Barrera, like they did Gatti, so I think some are swayed by their very good hyping of them . . Barrera was a great fighter, don't get me wrong, but HBO really had a hard-on for MAB that swung to outright bias on some occasions.

meh....I think Antonio was a smarter fighter....and shades them just..........but I can't argue with any of these guys being seen as topping the other. Pretty top talent pool being discussed for sure.

Some good video tributes,
i think the Marquez one is done very well

Barrera: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NK0jly2n ... plpp_video

Morales: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfCiwdeq ... plpp_video

Marquez: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7oaKO5I ... plpp_video

dempseyfire wrote:3 of my all time favorites, all of them. For me they really made boxing a MUST-SEE sport in the early 2000s when the other divisions seemed to be falling in quality.
If we're talking about career standing/accomplishments, I'd have it Morales, Marquez, and Barrera.

If we are talking who was the best fighter in their prime, I'll say Marquez, Morales, Barrera, but this is basically splitting hairs as I think on any given night they could've beaten one another prime for prime.

Barrera had the VERY slight edge in the Morales trilogy but I think the Hamed win is overblown . . does anyone believe Hamed wouldn't have lost to any of the three?? The two Jones losses and the fact that MAB couldn't do ANYTHING with Pacquao really hurts his standing with me . . the other two managed to beat Pac at least once and give him tough scraps in the others (save the third Morales fight). But HBO REALLY loved Barrera, like they did Gatti, so I think some are swayed by their very good hyping of them . . Barrera was a great fighter, don't get me wrong, but HBO really had a hard-on for MAB that swung to outright bias on some occasions.

Demps, think you're being hard on the Hamed win. Hamed had beaten all the other title holders and was an atg puncher. Okay, he had neglected his skills but Marco trounced him, I'd say embarrassed him. It was a dominant win by a guy moving up in weight.

Ezzard wrote:

dempseyfire wrote:3 of my all time favorites, all of them. For me they really made boxing a MUST-SEE sport in the early 2000s when the other divisions seemed to be falling in quality.
If we're talking about career standing/accomplishments, I'd have it Morales, Marquez, and Barrera.

If we are talking who was the best fighter in their prime, I'll say Marquez, Morales, Barrera, but this is basically splitting hairs as I think on any given night they could've beaten one another prime for prime.

Barrera had the VERY slight edge in the Morales trilogy but I think the Hamed win is overblown . . does anyone believe Hamed wouldn't have lost to any of the three?? The two Jones losses and the fact that MAB couldn't do ANYTHING with Pacquao really hurts his standing with me . . the other two managed to beat Pac at least once and give him tough scraps in the others (save the third Morales fight). But HBO REALLY loved Barrera, like they did Gatti, so I think some are swayed by their very good hyping of them . . Barrera was a great fighter, don't get me wrong, but HBO really had a hard-on for MAB that swung to outright bias on some occasions.

Demps, think you're being hard on the Hamed win. Hamed had beaten all the other title holders and was an atg puncher. Okay, he had neglected his skills but Marco trounced him, I'd say embarrassed him. It was a dominant win by a guy moving up in weight.

I'm not saying it's not a very good win, but I think it shouldn't give him too many extra points when comparing him with Morales and Marquez, as I'm firmly confident if Hamed had had the cajones to fight either one of them at 126 he would've also lost to them as well.

Hey Dempsey.....your top pick would not have had the patience to deliver a full 12 round humiliation to Hamed and just might have gotten decapitated......don't get me wrong. I'd bet on Morales.....but he would be very tempted to shoot it out with the prince.


And it might have paid off.......but the odds would tilt away from anyone who chose that strategy with that particular opponent.

Check that.......my mistake.....you had JMM topping your list


He would be happy to dance all 12 while tattooing the prince.

Three Great fighters but come on, are we really taking Morales 4th world title seriously? Its just an ABC belt picked up against a nobody. Spirited effort against Maidana but given his performance v Alexander and Morales losing run at the end of his career..... it all sort of puts it in perspective.

Morales never had a Junior Jones rising or peaking.

People forget how great and awesome the great Marco Antonio Barrera was in the 90s decade. His down fights with Junior Jones cannot diminish his accomplishments one iota. Barrera was a true warrior just like Erik Morales and Juan Manuel Marquez but he separates himself from this 3-pack from the quality and quantity of great fights he had in his career and prime.

Marquez got whupped twice in my book in the first 2 fights by the great Pacman. I have not seen the third fight, but to me, it does not matter. Morales probably won more titles, but Barrera beat him 2 out of 3 in close fights that could have gone either way.

When Pacman beat Barrera, I think Barrera was out of his prime. He was fading. It would have been a great fight if both would have clash in their primes.