BoxRec

Whilst bored at home last night i decided to stick on the MAB - Morales trilogy which i had bought about 6 months ago and never watched until last night. Let me just say that 1st fight was a corker, the way they battered each other and the chins they showed was amazing.

I personally feel that the best fight was the 1st followed by the 3rd then the 2nd.

True warriors who surely will go down in history as Greats.

Just wondering who you guys think will go down as the better fighter and Legend MAB or Morales???

Who is the better of the two will be debated for a while. I still think they might go at it again and I'd pay to see it.

The key fights for me in deciding the 'warrior'-type rankings of the two are Chi for Morales and Pac for Barrera. Which puts Morales ahead of Barrera. But then I do like Morales.

Depends how much longer morales can keep going, he could end up the greatest mexican fighter of all time in theory.

Barrera for me will be ranked the higher. This is simply because he has had the better of their fights so far. Add to that the Hamed win, I just give him the edge. Although Barrera might need to prove something wasn't right the night he lost to Pacquiao by fighting and beating the Pac Man in a rematch.

stujones wrote:Barrera for me will be ranked the higher. This is simply because he has had the better of their fights so far. Add to that the Hamed win, I just give him the edge. Although Barrera might need to prove something wasn't right the night he lost to Pacquiao by fighting and beating the Pac Man in a rematch.

At this moment in time i'd have to disagree and say Morales will be ranked higher, But its a very slim distance between him and Barrera.

Although Barrera has arguably fought better fighters, he does have 2 stoppage losses on his record, although one of them against Junior Jones is recorded as a DQ loss, he was completly gone when the fight was stopped, and Morales has a stoppage win against Junior jones.

Morales is also moving on up the weights, big fights against Corralles, Mayweather and even Hatton are a possibility still. If Morales were to go all the way to LW, and win titles, then he would have to get consideration as possibly the greatest mexican fighter of all time. Just because Barrera sort of has his number doesn't mean Barrera goes down as the better fighter.

James, I agree - Morales certainly has the opportunity, which is something of a rarity in this day and age. I'm very much looking forward to this Raheem bout, though.

That's right, Morales has acheived so much, if he could go on and beat a top 'name' lightweight or light welterweight as opposed to picking up a light-welterweight belt by fighting a weak champion at the right time then he's got to be one of the best ever.

If he were to beat Corrales and Castillo that would be enough for me if he then went on to defend the belts. Big ask though, how will his power hold up?

The first Morales-Barrera bout is one of the greatest ever IMO it is that good. Two warriors battering each other from pillar to post for 12 rounds, awesome stuff. In a head to head i feel Barrera has the edge over Morales, but putting there seperate careers into perspective i would say Morales is the better fighter and has beaten the better opposition.

Morales is the type of character who fights anyone and never ducks a challenge, he can box as well as brawl...James i agree if he keeps on going at this rate he could become the greatest Mexican of all time.

I don't think that Morales would be strong enough to step up to light welter and beat the top fighters, he would beat the second stringers , IMO he doesn't have the build to take the weight on and still have the strength, I look back on his fights with In In Jin Chi and the first fight with Barrera both of these fighters were able to bully Morales for periods of the fight,
If you look back on another great Mexican Julio Ceasar Chavez , he stepped up to Light Welter, but the difference is that he was incredably strong at Super feather.

Chavez beat a lot of ordinary fighters though.

It's an amazing rivalry between Morales and Barrera, and like their fights this topic will swing one way and then the other. There will still probably be more outstanding performances from both so the debate will rage on.

Despite the verdict going Barrera's way in the 2nd and 3rd fights, I thought Morales edged them so have to tip Morales....but it's not by much.

jamesmcdonnell wrote:Chavez beat a lot of ordinary fighters though.

Fair enough Chavez didn't face the same quality opponent at super feather, but the point i'm making is Chavez had the build and natural strength to step up to Light Welter, i just don't see Morales being able to do the same thing.

jamesmcdonnell wrote:Depends how much longer morales can keep going, he could end up the greatest mexican fighter of all time in theory.

I'm Mexican, and I can see this happening. It's very possible. I was talking about this to my father. He's already easily ranked in the top 10 greatest Mexican fighters to us both. Believe it or not, Morales is more of the people's champ in Mexico than Barrera. Of course, Barrera is a great fighter in his own right, it will always be debated but I believe Morales won 2 of the 3 fights with him. And if they fight again, Morales would win. Morales is one of the modern day warriors. When has anyone heard of him ducking people? Some say he ducked Hamed, others say he ducked Marquez, but I think he was just looking for the best payday. In my mind, he would have destroyed Hamed, and he'd beat Marquez. And if he keeps it up, he might be considered the best. He's had great opposition, he keeps fighting competitive fights, if he managed to best Corrales and Mayweather (which is highly unlikely but you never know...) he'd definetely be the greatest Mexican fighter of all time. If I have kids someday, I'm going to tell them, "I saw that guy fight, and man was he a warrior." Just like my father tells me about older fighters.

vagabundo55 wrote:

jamesmcdonnell wrote:Depends how much longer morales can keep going, he could end up the greatest mexican fighter of all time in theory.

I'm Mexican, and I can see this happening. It's very possible. I was talking about this to my father. He's already easily ranked in the top 10 greatest Mexican fighters to us both. Believe it or not, Morales is more of the people's champ in Mexico than Barrera. Of course, Barrera is a great fighter in his own right, it will always be debated but I believe Morales won 2 of the 3 fights with him. And if they fight again, Morales would win. Morales is one of the modern day warriors. When has anyone heard of him ducking people? Some say he ducked Hamed, others say he ducked Marquez, but I think he was just looking for the best payday. In my mind, he would have destroyed Hamed, and he'd beat Marquez. And if he keeps it up, he might be considered the best. He's had great opposition, he keeps fighting competitive fights, if he managed to best Corrales and Mayweather (which is highly unlikely but you never know...) he'd definetely be the greatest Mexican fighter of all time. If I have kids someday, I'm going to tell them, "I saw that guy fight, and man was he a warrior." Just like my father tells me about older fighters.

When he beat Daniel Zaragoza you could tell he was going to be something special. Fighting in that heat with an 'away' crowd (despite being Mexican himself!), and taking the awkward licks he took from Daniel, then finishing him with a body shot in the 11th round! What a breakthrough performance...

I think Ruben Olivares trained Erik for that fight... It showed.

topper123 wrote:

stujones wrote:Barrera for me will be ranked the higher. This is simply because he has had the better of their fights so far. Add to that the Hamed win, I just give him the edge. Although Barrera might need to prove something wasn't right the night he lost to Pacquiao by fighting and beating the Pac Man in a rematch.

At this moment in time i'd have to disagree and say Morales will be ranked higher, But its a very slim distance between him and Barrera.

Although Barrera has arguably fought better fighters, he does have 2 stoppage losses on his record, although one of them against Junior Jones is recorded as a DQ loss, he was completly gone when the fight was stopped, and Morales has a stoppage win against Junior jones.

Well, I have to disagree with both of you. In my opinion, Morales has by far fought the better opposition of the two, and well, Barrera wouldn't be what he is if it wasn't for Morales. Of course they're just opinions.. but that's what I believe. And Manos De Oro, yeah, Morales is something special.

jamesmcdonnell wrote:Morales is also moving on up the weights, big fights against Corralles, Mayweather and even Hatton are a possibility still. If Morales were to go all the way to LW, and win titles, then he would have to get consideration as possibly the greatest mexican fighter of all time. Just because Barrera sort of has his number doesn't mean Barrera goes down as the better fighter.

All ifs buts and maybes though at the moment. Just because Barrera doesn't look to have the frame to move up that Morales has, it hasn't stopped him so far.

Who would have thought he would be so effective at Super Featherweight vs Morales. HE is talking (seriously) of moving up soon and the special thing with Barrera, he doesn't have too. I am sure he could make Super Bantam if he wanted too.