Barrera-Morales III: “Once and For All.’

While the ghost of Naseem Hamed makes occasional tabloid appearances and idle threats through the Internet press to return and subject us to the reincarnation of his transparent personality and insubstantial ring performances, the featherweight

division continues to enjoy one of the richest talent periods in its history. On Saturday night, Las Vegas will see the final act of a trilogy of fights between Mexican legends Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales; a feud that has stormed through the super bantamweight, featherweight and lastly the super featherweight divisions. Even the most passionately articulated superlatives failed to summarize the seminal battle between the two, a fight that proportionately diminishes their successive encounter. Clearly, the dislike between the two men stretches beyond the generally accepted power struggle manifest by Barrera’s Mexico City allegiance and Morales’s Tijuana loyalties. As recently demonstrated by Jameel McCline and Chris Byrd, good friends can be involved in good fights, but logically enough, a clash between two fighters who simply cannot stand the sight of one another can make for an absolute classic.

Arturo Gatti and Mickey Ward fought three consecutive light welterweight wars in what felt like a logical progression, unfinished business that required an immediate conclusion. Whereas the Morales-Barrera fights have felt more like an insurance policy for each of the fighters and quite frankly for a featherweight division that has inconsistently lived up to its promise. A significant momentum shift has taken place in the time since the fallout of their initial meeting that saw Morales awarded a decision and maintenance of his unbeaten record. In those days, Barrera was riding high on the crest of his masterful out-boxing of Hamed; Morales was adjudged in the general boxing consciousness to be lucky to have escaped the Barrera fight in victory as he trudged the depths of an uninspiring reign as the WBC featherweight champion, bereft of his previously devastating form. Barrera, despite even his meteoric ascension was denied a rematch with Hamed and proceeded to compete against decidedly mediocre opposition. The possibility of another Morales-Barrera fight was one that saved them both and appeased the collective appetites of boxing fans who eagerly awaited another war.

The sequel scarcely succeeded in matching the intensity of its predecessor and more peculiarly, the decision awarded to Barrera appeared to be drenched in sympathy, a consolation prize for his apparent injustice suffered in their first meeting; this time, Barrera was devalued in victory. Morales’ WBC featherweight title was deemed vacant and yet he reacquired it with a thorough thrashing of former world champion Paulie Ayala. Morales appeared reinvigorated and rampaged forward into the super featherweight division, dismantling Jesus Chavez and Carlos “Famoso’ Hernandez to unify the WBC and IBF titles at the weight. Meanwhile, Barrera’s predictable superiority was about to be upended by something entirely more ferocious and destructive than he had reckoned with.

Barrera entertained the challenge of a precocious upstart named Manny Pacquiao, a former two-weight world champion from the Philippines. Pacquiao had trounced his way to championship glory in the flyweight and super bantamweight divisions; his power was evident, displayed as a supporting attraction in several marquee events, but that he was enough to overwhelm the colossus Barrera in his first featherweight fight was inconceivable. However, an oft forgotten fact in the boxing world is that the inconceivable is merely a punch away from realization. Pacquiao’s speed and power were the catalyst for the decimation, the sheer obliteration of Barrera that night and suddenly a feeling of condescending sympathy surrounded the once formidable Mexican as he was finally protected from further harm by his corner-men.

Therefore, at the turn of the tide, when Morales’ star shines brightly above Barrera’s attempts to claw out of yet another shadow, we are brought to the final performance of this relentlessly vicious saga. Victory is essential for both men and would appear to be nearer Morales’ grasp except that any standard logic has been inapplicable to their legacy thus far. Can Barrera turn back time and enter a new weight to conquer he who dominates it as he did against Hamed? Will we see the bane of Morales’s illustrious career as he once again forsakes his innate skill to indulge a war of attrition? Who is willing to sacrifice the most? Who will be known as the finest of the Latin legends since the great Julio Cesar Chavez? What is certain is that their individual seats in the echelons of the Aztec Warriors are assured, and now they have come to fight, to win and to bring closure to one of boxing’s immortal chapters, “once and for all.’

Jim Cawkwell can be reached at jimcawkwell@yahoo.co.uk