MAB vs Morales: who deserves more praise?

[RozzySean]

For overall career, I count them even in the heads up matchups, no matter what the actual outcomes.

Looking to their other fighters, MAB's biggest non-Morales win is Hamed. Morales biggest non-MAB win in Pacman. Pretty damn close, if you ask me. Some would argue that Naz was a step past it when MAB beat him, and most would agree that the Pacman Morales beat was a year or two before his peak. Either way, both guys have one crowning achievement on their resume, aside from their own trilogy.

Other than wins over Hamed and Morales, MAB's biggest wins are ?? - some good fighters - Kevin Kelly, an older Tapia, Maurin, Ayala, Peden.

Besides wins over Barrera and Pac, Morales beat Carlos Hernandez, Kelly, Junior Jones (who beat MAB twice), Jesus Chavez, In-Jin Chi, and Ayala (like MAB).

I gotta give the edge to Morales, on secondary-level wins.

Unfortunately, Morales lost 4 of his last 5. Let's look at that. Two he lost to Pac, who Barrera could never beat, one was a VERY close fight to Barrera, and the other two were in at 135, where we have never seen Barrera fight.

I love MAB, and my first instinct was that he had the better overall career, but as I broke it down, I have to give the overall career advantage to Morales. In the twighlight of their careers, MAB was the superior fighter. There are any number of reasons why that is. Morales weight issues couldn't have helped him much in that regard, but If I were making an all-time P4P, I would have to put Morales a notch or two ahead.

Sean, good breakdown. But...on MAB's resume why don't you mention Juarez. Juarez was one of the biggest punchers and up coming stars when Barrera fought him. Marco was no youngster when he warred out a win in the first fight and schooled him in the second. Many people don't give him enough credit for those fights. Not to mention Barrera had the cajones to fight Marquez towards the end of his career...a fight that was extremely close. Morales, as well as many others, ducked Marquez for years. As far as the MAB vs. Morales trilogy...i had it 2 wins to 1 for Marco. Both of them are great fighters...but Marco's intelligence and longevity make him the better of the two.

I guess if you give him credit for Juarez it matters some, but I don't really rate Juarez all that highly. That he needed to war out a win with Juarez in the first fight shows me great heart, but it doesn't show me much else. He should have schooled him in the first fight. As for fighting JMM late in his career, lets not forget that JMM is pretty damn late in his career, too, and although it was a close fight, I felt JMM won pretty clearly (not easily, but clearly).

I will forever love MAB for his professionalism, his ability to reinvent himself, and for kicking the a** of Naseem Hamed. I have rooted for MAB consistantly, even against Morales. I wish I could give the edge, but I have to give Morales credit for his greater number of wins against B+ and A- fighters, and for beating Pac, even just the once, which to me is an even greater win than Barrera beating Naz.

Well...a difference in opinion i guess. Say what you want about Juarez now...but he was a younger, stronger fighter than MAB when they fought. And don't forget, before the first Juarez fight Barrera was preparing to go up to 135 to fight Chavez. When that fight fell through...he all of a sudden had to adjust to fight another fighter...hence his sub par showing in the first fight (not to mention Juarez is a strong and skilled puncher). In the second fight...Marco showed his true self and out classed his younger foe. As for JMM...sure...he ain't a young buck....but he is still one of the pound 4 pound best fighters in the game...a fighter almost that almost all the big names (with the exception of Pac and Marco) have ducked. I personally thought that Barrera should have one that fight...but at the very least it was damn close.

Juarez was younger, stronger, less skilled, and one dimensional. You do give a pretty good reason why he struggled in the first fight, still, we have no basis to know how Barrera would have faired at 135. I suspect he would have done so well. We can agree to disagree on the JMM fight, but I give him props for taking the fight.

You make some good pro-MAB points, but you don't talk about Morales beating Hernandez and Junior Jones, who are far, far better fighters than say, Rocky Juarez, Peden, or Tapia in 2002. Wayne McCullough was still a damn good fighter in 1999, when Morales beat him.

Too bad Morales never fought Naz...that would have been fun. I think we can agree on that.