barrera vs khan

[Kev]

It's a tough fight to call imo. I favour Barrera if he has anything left at this stage and I think he could stop Khan who will probably get hit a lot in this fight.

Watching guys like Limond and Gomez rattle Khan it's hard to envisage that a slick boxing legend like Barrera isn't going to land his share of punches.

Barrera put down Marquez only a year or so ago so let's dismiss any thoughts of him not having the power at lightweight to hurt Khan.

I see Khan's speed and youth giving Barrera problems and I can see Khan winning rounds. But for me Khan will have to fight a perfect fight to pull this off, something he hasn't yet done.

Barrera can probably afford to make mistakes and not get punished but if Khan messes up he's probably getting stopped so a very risky fight.

I want Amir to win, great for British boxing and he is the future of the sport and taking a brave step up. But right now I'm favouring Barrera to stop him in the middle rounds.


To win Khan will have to give the kind of performance, probably over 12 rounds that we simply havn't seen him produce yet. For Barrera to win, he just needs to have not become shot over night.

[Howlin Mad Missy]

I think Khan's speed will be too much for Barrera, at the end of the day Barrera is not Prescott, I don't think his punches will stop Khan. Also think that Khan is showing the necessary respect for his opponent this time, something he didn't do against Prescott. If anything its Barrera who's making mistakes looking past him & talking about fightin JMM & Pac.

Barrera might not be Prescott but imo he'd hit alot harder than Gomez and Limmond, I think Barrera will win by stoppage rd1-5

Not sure about Michael Gomez, who could pack a decent punch, but definitely harder than Limond. However, I don't see Barrera as a big puncher at least not at 135 & not anymore. His last knockout was against a guy who had been knocked in 3 of his previous 4 fights, & each time quicker than MAB would eventually drop him for. Prior to that you have to go back to 2005 to find his last KO against Fana. Even this last weekend he got taken to the 3rd round by a guy with a 1-7-1 record, can you imagine how embarassin that would have been for the MAB of old. I would be certain that the pre-2005 Barrera demolishes Khan, even at Lightweight, but I just think he is no longer the fighter he was. In truth I don't want to see another former great & hero of mine getting demolished, so I'm hoping he's still got it although a Khan win would be better for boxing in the mainstream so I may back him on fight night. I think Khan by 9th Round TKO.

Howdy. I agree with Fenster & ICB.

You have to remember he's had a reasonible lay off. Both of those fights were tune-ups. Gym work is not sparring and sparring is not fighting.

I think he would have liked for those fights to last about 5 rounds. Enough to shake off the cobwebs, test out the weight, work on timing and not have to slug it out for 10 rounds.

[Howlin Mad Missy]

Not sure about Michael Gomez, who could pack a decent punch, but definitely harder than Limond. However, I don't see Barrera as a big puncher at least not at 135 & not anymore. His last knockout was against a guy who had been knocked in 3 of his previous 4 fights, & each time quicker than MAB would eventually drop him for. Prior to that you have to go back to 2005 to find his last KO against Fana. Even this last weekend he got taken to the 3rd round by a guy with a 1-7-1 record, can you imagine how embarassin that would have been for the MAB of old. I would be certain that the pre-2005 Barrera demolishes Khan, even at Lightweight, but I just think he is no longer the fighter he was. In truth I don't want to see another former great & hero of mine getting demolished, so I'm hoping he's still got it although a Khan win would be better for boxing in the mainstream so I may back him on fight night. I think Khan by 9th Round TKO.

MAB in his prime was taken to the 4th round by a 2-1 fighter Cesar Najera, who was his sparring partner believe it or not. As Fenster said it means nothing he was trying to get some rounds in thats it. And i wouldn't say MAB doesn't have power anymore, he stopped himself getting KO'ed against JMM by turning the fight around with one punch.

He also stunned Manny Pacquiao a few times i thought aswell. And to be fair who at the moment would be able to stop tough fighters like JMM, Manny Pacquiao, Rocky Juarez ?

And lastly you mentioned Michael Gomez he was a Super Featherweight for most of his career. He fought Amir Khan at Lightweight which is a big difference.

And Michael Gomez isn't that big of a puncher, he has some pop but he is certainly nowhere near a world class puncher. And Willie Limond only has 8 stoppage wins out of 30 wins, and half of those stoppage wins were against fighters with losing records. Yet he had Amir Khan on queer street.

I am aware that Gomez has pretty much always fought at 130, but that doesn't take away from the fact that he does & has generally always had good 1 punch power, whilst IMO Barrera hasn't demonstrated world class power above 126. True about the JMM punch, I'd forgotten about that but it was never a situation where I thought JMM would get stopped. Can't say I ever thought he did anything to Pacquiao as much as I was hoping for it at the time.

to be fair Gomez wasn't really fighting in the same league as Barrera/JMM?

Let's be realistic, Khan has natural size and handspeed and the fitness of youth going for him. What else?

Barrera has the better boxing skills and all the experience in the world.

The fight for me rests on one thing and one thing only. Barrera's fitness. If he's fit IMO he wins.

BTW I added the extra poll option just for Fenster

[Fenster]

I stick by what i said

Until I see Barrera weigh-in this fight is not happening. Fact.

[JazMerkin]

MAB in his prime was taken to the 4th round by a 2-1 fighter Cesar Najera, who was his sparring partner believe it or not. As Fenster said it means nothing he was trying to get some rounds in thats it. And i wouldn't say MAB doesn't have power anymore, he stopped himself getting KO'ed against JMM by turning the fight around with one punch.

He also stunned Manny Pacquiao a few times i thought aswell. And to be fair who at the moment would be able to stop tough fighters like JMM, Manny Pacquiao, Rocky Juarez ?

And lastly you mentioned Michael Gomez he was a Super Featherweight for most of his career. He fought Amir Khan at Lightweight which is a big difference.

And Michael Gomez isn't that big of a puncher, he has some pop but he is certainly nowhere near a world class puncher. And Willie Limond only has 8 stoppage wins out of 30 wins, and half of those stoppage wins were against fighters with losing records. Yet he had Amir Khan on queer street.

I am aware that Gomez has pretty much always fought at 130, but that doesn't take away from the fact that he does & has generally always had good 1 punch power, whilst IMO Barrera hasn't demonstrated world class power above 126. True about the JMM punch, I'd forgotten about that but it was never a situation where I thought JMM would get stopped. Can't say I ever thought he did anything to Pacquiao as much as I was hoping for it at the time.

to be fair Gomez wasn't really fighting in the same league as Barrera/JMM?

Let's be realistic, Khan has natural size and handspeed and the fitness of youth going for him. What else?

Barrera has the better boxing skills and all the experience in the world.

The fight for me rests on one thing and one thing only. Barrera's fitness. If he's fit IMO he wins.

BTW I added the extra poll option just for Fenster

Yeah I was NEVER suggesting that Gomez was anywhere near JMM or Barrera, I'd have to have been sniffin a lot of glue to come out with that one.

The point about the tune-up fights is not even necessarily how long it took, it's the rust & sluggishness that Barrera showed that makes me doubt whether he's still got it. Like you say it's his fitness & I just don't believe he's still got it anymore.

I also don't think that Warren would take as great a risk as this with his cash cow after the Prescott fight unless he was sure that it would be a winner, hope it will be a great fight though

[Howlin Mad Missy]

whilst I take your point do you think it would do him any good to blast a guy out in a round? I don't. Getting rounds in takes off the ring rust, it helps you get your timing back. Especially crucial if you've had a lay off.

I guess you also have to factor in attitude. I doubt he thought those two guys were that dangerous. Khan is.

[JazMerkin]

whilst I take your point do you think it would do him any good to blast a guy out in a round? I don't. Getting rounds in takes off the ring rust, it helps you get your timing back. Especially crucial if you've had a lay off.

I guess you also have to factor in attitude. I doubt he thought those two guys were that dangerous. Khan is.

No I agree with you there, like I said it's not so much how long he took as how he looked doing it. Also from some of the stuff I've seen him saying leading up to the Khan fight, he seems to not think of Khan as much of a problem & almost another guy to roll over on the way to a rematch with JMM or against Pacquiao, which IMO is the wrong way to be going about this

[Youngblood]

Make or break for Khan. He gets KTFO here...it is all over IMO.

Will be time to take that wit and charm of his into making movies.

[fan johnny]

Barrera's perspective, I think he looks at this fight more seriously than his last two. I think he wants to prove to himself that he can still hang with the boys coming up that have the buzz about them. His goal, another big money fight.

The money fights have gone and he wants/needs whatever the reason, a big money fight and the two guys are at the top of the list for him are first Marquez which set up a Mega fight with Pacquiao. To get a rematch with either fighter he has to make a new path and Khan is just one of those rocks to get across the river that is in his way.

I look at Barrera coming into this fight with some conviction.

[Howlin Mad Missy]

Make or break for Khan. He gets KTFO here...it is all over IMO.

Will be time to take that wit and charm of his into making movies.

hahaha.

Oh Tough break.

[Tenshio]

I think Khan outboxes Barrera in the early going and befuddles him with his speed but will eventually get caught. Khan's chin will again let him down. MAB by stoppage.

[GAME]

I am aware that Gomez has pretty much always fought at 130, but that doesn't take away from the fact that he does & has generally always had good 1 punch power, whilst IMO Barrera hasn't demonstrated world class power above 126. True about the JMM punch, I'd forgotten about that but it was never a situation where I thought JMM would get stopped. Can't say I ever thought he did anything to Pacquiao as much as I was hoping for it at the time.

to be fair Gomez wasn't really fighting in the same league as Barrera/JMM?

Let's be realistic, Khan has natural size and handspeed and the fitness of youth going for him. What else?

Barrera has the better boxing skills and all the experience in the world.

The fight for me rests on one thing and one thing only. Barrera's fitness. If he's fit IMO he wins.

BTW I added the extra poll option just for Fenster

Yeah I was NEVER suggesting that Gomez was anywhere near JMM or Barrera, I'd have to have been sniffin a lot of glue to come out with that one.

The point about the tune-up fights is not even necessarily how long it took, it's the rust & sluggishness that Barrera showed that makes me doubt whether he's still got it. Like you say it's his fitness & I just don't believe he's still got it anymore.

I also don't think that Warren would take as great a risk as this with his cash cow after the Prescott fight unless he was sure that it would be a winner, hope it will be a great fight though

Do you think that Barrera was trying his hardest to look good in that fight or do you think he was doing what an experienced pro does which is to get some rounds under his belt, go through the motions, try some moves out and try to shed the ring rust?

I think its defo the latter . It would have done Barrera no good if he tried to blast Rojas out of there . If anything this has lulled Khan into a false sense of security. Its not the 1st time Barrera has looked flat. over 10 years ago he was written off after the Jones fight but he knows what he is doing. Yes he is past his best but he didnt show everything that he has left vs Rojas . Who does show everything when they fight a bum? Nobody

[Howlin Mad Missy]

he was written off after Jones, before Morales and interestingly was past it when he fought Hamed and Juarez. Shit. We've only got just over a month to find out.

I think he quite likes being the underdog. Gives you something to prove rather than maintaining your position at the top.

[HattonTheHammer]

if its half the barrera of 3-4 years back i`ll plump for him to batter khan...unfortunately though solely from what ive read i dont believe it is and MAB may just be looking to take it 12 without too much risk and hope for the best with the judges.

Do hope to god there is a fair few barrera fans going and the crowd show a complete class act the respect he deserves!

[Howlin Mad Missy]

Khan has fans? From what I've read most people (on the forums) are Barrera fans or going with the hope of seeing Khan ko'd