Revisiting the Fight of the Year for 2000: Barrera-Morales I

The Boxing Canon is a ten chapter series that will review the Fights of the Year as defined by Ring Magazine from the year 2000 to 2009.

In this chapter of the Boxing Canon, we revisit the FOY for 2000: Erik "El Terrible" Morales vs."The Baby Faced Assassin" Marco Antonio Barrera.

This battle between the two most popular Mexican boxers of their generation took place at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas on February 19, 2000. Morales entered the ring as the slight favorite, having knocked out Junior Jones, who had handed Barrera not one, but two defeats. Erik was at the time the WBC super bantamweight (122 pounds) champion, and Barrera was the WBO champion in that same weight class.

A unification bout between these two promised not only a showcase of skills, but violence and drama as well.

It exceeded expectations on all accounts.

The first round began with Barrera throwing combinations, leading with his trademark left hook to the body. Morales's lanky, tall frame providing a perfect target against which to test Marco's attack.

Barrera is fierce, while Morales stands his ground, throwing back punishing combos, using his killer right hand to punctuate them. After the referee cautions Morales on a seemingly low blow towards the end of the round, Barrera refuses to touch gloves to Morales's apology.

Round two begins at a slightly slower pace, but soon picks it up. The combos start flowing from Barrera, while Morales deems it wise to counter Marco's violent onslaught by being even more violent himself.

A particularly impressive combo from Barrera starts with the jab, followed by the right hand cross, and then the left hand uppercut that pushes upwards and backwards Morales's head. Barrera won rounds one and two clearly, since Morales is still struggling to match his opponent's level of intensity.

Great counterpunching by Barrera in round three; when Morales plunges in, he gets caught with Barrera's left hook to the body, which stops him temporarily in his tracks. However, when "El Terrible" reacts, he comes back even fiercer, throwing three punch combinations to the head, taking a step to the side, and doing it again. All the while Barrera keeps his defense up and then goes on the attack himself.

The British commentator mentions in between rounds that the fight is living up to the Hagler-Hearns standard to which it had been hyped.

No kidding.

In round four, Morales lands a huge right hand on Barrera, and then falls victim to his own over-enthusiasm, as he loses balance while trying to land heavy shots, and hits the floor on a slip. Barrera quickly recovers.

There's a sense that Barrera's experience is carrying him through, while Morales is still trying to adapt to being on such a big stage with such a highly skilled enemy in the ring. As they trade ripping shots after three minutes, round four goes to Morales.

And then, there was round five.

This is as epic a round as any in boxing history in which neither fighter hit the canvas. Barrera hurts Morales with a flush right hand, who steps back against the ropes, and then fights Marco off.

Toward the middle of the round, it's Morales who takes the initiative, landing all sorts of hooks and uppercuts on Barrera, making him step back. Barrera looks hurt, since Morales is able to throw over 20 punches with hardly any reply, even as Barrera still has his hands held up blocking some shots.

After the half-minute attack by Morales, when Barrera was almost against the ropes, something suddenly lights up in him. Marco throws a hook to the body, steps around Morales, and sends him back against the ropes after landing a monstrous right hand flush on Erik's face. He lands a series of ripping punches which hurt Morales not only by their power, but by their unexpectedness.

As there's still a full minute to go in the round, the Mandalay Bay erupts.

After a little breather by both, Morales starts his attack again. Later, Barrera lands a punch after the referee had indicated a break. Marco does not even attempt an apology. The ten second warning gives new life to the fighters, as they trade shots once more.

"Something has to give, surely, sometime soon" says the narrator towards the end of the round.

He is wrong.

As the camera pans out to take a look at the roaring audience, he says, "Look at the fight fans here. Three hundred dollars top price, 50 dollars bottom price...I'll tell you what, it's worth about five times that, isn't it?"

He is right.

As I re-watch this classic for the umpteenth time, I notice that the level of enjoyment never diminishes with repeated viewings. If this was a movie, it would be your favorite Godfather, your favorite Lord of the Rings, and your favorite Terminator all rolled into one.

Times ten.

But back in the action, at the start of six, the pace slows down some. It just had to. But not for long, as Morales takes the initiative once again, and keeps punishing Barrera with his powerful right hand. The previous round seems to have taken more out of Marco than of Erik.

In round seven, we again see Barrera's masterful left hook to the body, which surprises Morales and makes him step back. The commentator mentions in passing that these guys' punches probably hurt "like the kick of a mule."

Uppercuts by Marco, uppercuts from Morales. The fighters are more stationary now, inside an imaginary phone booth. They may not move around as much, but there's still punches aplenty. Morales's back hits the ropes as Barrera punches him square in the face with the right, but then Terrible comes on, throwing hooks and killer uppercuts to fight Barrera off. Wow.

Barrera looks more tired than Morales at this point. He is the more experienced and probably the more skilled of these two, but he is also the older one. Nevertheless, he lands at least three major punches on Morales as the round ends.

In round eight Morales seems to be more active, but both land serious blows. Barrera's edge on experience comes to light towards the end of the round, as if by reflex, when he tries to steal the round with a wild barrage of punches, the stronger of which land cleanly on Morales.

Erik looks somewhat frustrated in round nine. He has thrown everything he has at Barrera, and still Marco is the one who momentarily stuns Terrible within the first minute. The rest of the round, Morales plays catch up, trying to pull ahead by overworking Barrera.

Erik tries his looping, hard right hand over the top, which he may have picked up on his win over living Mexican legend Daniel Zaragoza, in what was his biggest win at the time. Barrera may still have stolen the round in the final seconds with his violent, commonly late rally.

In round ten it's more of the same, which means we get some more intense action. Barrera may be fading a little, but he remains game, always ready to punish Morales when he becomes too careless. Barrera looks weak on the legs towards the last minute, but then comes back and almost drops Morales. Terrible fights back though, punching wildly at Barrera to back him off.

This is one of those fights that should go on until only one man is left standing. This kind of fight should not have to be decided by something as irrelevant as three scorecards.

Round eleven is Morales's round, as he outworks Barrera, landing big right hands that stun Marco. Still, Barrera counterpunches, going strong against Morales's body, making him bend a little more noticeably in pain as he feels those hooks to the ribs. But Morales was the busier fighter in this round.

In between rounds, we get a close up of Barrera's face, which shows a cut below the left eye, product of Morales's hard straight right hands.

As the final round begins, they touch gloves at the center of the ring. Barrera nods in acknowledgment of Terrible's performance so far. It's nothing but respect between these two at these point.

But respect quickly turns to urgency from both fighters. As the commentators speak of the possibility, and probably the fairness, of the bout being scored a draw, Barrera and Morales trade vicious shots, as if trying to avoid the fight going the distance. They sense the scores are close, and they sense the end is near, but neither wants to leave anything to chance.

They both want the knockout.

It's Barrera who lands more and better punches after the initial whirlwind of activity. Morales steps back and decides to box a little all of a sudden. Marco's punches must feel even harder than they seem. Terrible gets his confidence back, goes on the offensive, and Marco plays counterpuncher. He uses his experience to win the territorial battle, trading shots when he wants to.

Barrera hurts Morales with 45 seconds left. He lands one of his left hooks on Morales's chin, who backs up against the ropes. Morales holds on though, the ropes support him, and then he quickly steps to the side, trying to slip and duck while Marco is on the attack.

Erik survives. He's still standing. He's still moving.

Then, the referee decides to stir up controversy, as he rules a knockdown on what was mostly a slip by Morales with half a minute to go. Erik, who shows an abrasion and blood below his right eye, can't believe it. As the referee does the count, an upset Erik shakes his head.

When the action resumes, Morales is on speed. Time is running out, and he just lost a point on the fake knockdown. So he throws his favorite punch, the straight right, wish lands flush on Barrera's face. He smothers Barrera with activity. Eighteen seconds left on the clock as Barrera fights Morales off with his left hand. They exchange punches mercilessly until the final bell.

It's over.

After all the action, drama, hurt, controversy and blood, it all comes down to the scorecards.

The verdict is a split decision. Two 114-113 scorecards, one for each fighter. The third one is 115-112 in favor of Morales.

Many rounds were close, hard to score. Personally, I would have given the nod in a very close fight to Barrera.

In the end, due to the nature of the fight, and the way the events developed, anyone watching would hardly believe the affair was to end here.

Barrera and Morales would fight each other two more times. Their trilogy became the stuff of legend. Individually, they became Mexican boxing legends as well, due in no small part to their fights against each other.

This was the fight of the year for 2000.

The next episode of The Boxing Canon will review the Fight of the Year for 2001: Micky Ward - Emanuel Burton.