Can Barrera beat Pacquiao ?

[jbirdy]

i think that barrera vs pac man is an almost certain win for pacquiao. at this point i just don't think barrera has enough left in the tank. i would rather see marquez vs barrera now to be honest.

[Gandalf]

That’s my case for Barrera.

My heart says Barrera can do it, but my head says Pacquiao.

manny pac, eric morales, or barrera are pound-for-pound over any other fighters. manny's first. i'd love to see eric move up and meet mayweather at 154

And that is so funny.

[Vintage]

As much as I admire Barrera, my answer to the question of this post is: "No, he cannot."

[mugabi saad]

beating pac is like a matador taming a bull without the sword for barrera...pacs is a freak of nature,he runs 12 laps around the oval (400m) without breathing hard,he is in his physical prime..the scarry thing is he is still learning the game..the only way to beat pac is a jmm type combined with valeros raw talent.

[yoitsdan]

I think some people are seriously under rating Barrera's ability.

[rrbong]

Anybody has a chance in boxing.Barrera can still do an upset on Pacquaio given his abilities and experience. I cannot discount Barrera. He is still a world champion right now.That means, he still has some left in him.... and maybe more.

[Gandalf]

I think some people are seriously under rating Barrera's ability.

CC, agreed.

Its understandable that Pac is being held in such high regard coming off of that remarkable win, but as Ive pointed out before Morales fought a horrible fight tactically and didnt seem in the condition to even try to make it a pure boxing match. He got sucked into trading early and it cost him very dearly.

Barrera is not to be underestimated. Pac would start as favourite and rightly so, but Barrera has a fair shot of beating Pac if he comes in with the correct gameplan.

[Realitycheck77]

Even though Pacquiao is on fire at the moment, I think this could be a tough one to call. My head says Pacquiao will win because it’s the same story as Morales without taking anything away from the two great Mexicans I feel both Morales and Barrera have seen their best days gone. So with that in mind I can see Pacquiao stopping Barrera.

But as I thought with Morales or rather hoping that he may have one last big performance left in him. I can’t see Barrera going toe to toe, he will have to stay on the outside and circle Pacquiao and keep a stiff left jab in his face, with the occasional flurry, aswell as going to the body with his lethal body shots and slow Pacquiao down. Easier said than done though.

I still see this as being an interesting fight and I believe Barrera deserves a rematch.

It will be very difficult for Barrera to win but nowhere near impossible, he has the tools, ability but more importantly at this stage the experience and knowledge to beat Pacquiao, but I have to say I see Pacquiao stopping Barrera in the 8th round.

[SigmaMu]

Just like wacky mentioned in another thread, MAB looked like he wanted out of that fight after the 3rd. Neither Manny nor MAB are who they were in 2004. Manny is on the rise and peaking while Barrera has seen better days. I would not say MAB is shot, but the human buzzsaw is just too much for Barrera. Manny destroys MAB early.

[Wacko3205]

Just like wacky mentioned in another thread, MAB looked like he wanted out of that fight after the 3rd. Neither Manny nor MAB are who they were in 2004. Manny is on the rise and peaking while Barrera has seen better days. I would not say MAB is shot, but the human buzzsaw is just too much for Barrera. Manny destroys MAB early.

Well...you gotta look at it realistically...he's already cracked him...& hard & we all know that Barrera is a tuff nut to crack...so mentally (all metal plates in head excluded ) Pac has the advantage.

That & the fact that Pac is becoming a bit more complete...I say that Barrera is fwocked...again...compiling facts & recent performances...as in the Juarez fights...

Pac by mid round TKO.

[zhubin]

This a case of people blindly building up a fighter too much. There is no question that Pacquiao is a tremendous athlete. His speed and relentlessness pose a serious challenge to any opponent. But he is still far from being a great technical fighter. He relies almost entirely on his power and aggression. People say he has improved alot, but he still mainly just jumps in and out with flurries. He is a much less skilled fighter than a Barrera, Marquez, and even Morales. His balance/footwork and lack of ability to fight going backwards (when you back him up he sometimes looks like he is going to fall over) are still evident. Everyone seems to be buzzing about his destruction of Morales....and credit needs to be given to Manny for finishing Eric...but Morales had nothing left going into this fight...PERIOD. Add to that...Eric pretty much had no strategy....and you have an impressive victory for Pac. But for people to use that as proof that Manny is unstoppable is premature. The Marquez fight was a war...and aside from the first round knockouts...Juan outboxed Manny despite a destroyed nose. It is also not unreasonable to think Barrera was not near his best in the Pac fight. It's true that Barrera and Marquez are not as young and on fire like Manny. But they are both supremely gifted and intelligent fighters. They don't have the wear and tear of Eric and they fight with better ring strategy than Eric. They are not going to fight Pac trying to prove their machismo by just slugging it out with Manny. They will try to win anyway they can. Manny's constant pressure is certainly a challenge. But if you fight him with controlled aggression and strategy (jab, clinch, movement)...he can become frustrated. I just don't see Manny having anything to fall back on. If he doesn't overwhelm you, he can't suddenly turn into a skilled boxer. Marco is smart and has shown that he can still be in tremendous shape. People say he has looked his age recently?! He showed he can still go to war with a strong puncher in the first Juarez fight (even though he wasn't up for that fight since he was preparing to fight Chavez at 135). In the second Juarez fight he danced and busted up Juarez's face with the beautiful jabs. The man knows how to adapt and pace himself. None of this is to say Pac cannot beat Barrera or Marquez. But it is also entirely possible that these two can beat Manny. I just hope we get a chance to watch them fight.

[SweetPea]

Barrera is an all-time great, but I think Barrera-Pacquiao II would have a similar outcome to their first fight. Barrera has just as much wear and tear on him as Morales does, it's just that Barrera has been able to hide it longer because he was willing to convert to a technical, more defensive style, whereas Morales knows nothing but going straight ahead.
Barrera can still outbox someone of Juarez's caliber, but Juarez isn't the offensive force that Pacquiao is. Pacquiao blitzed Barrera the first time, and all that's happened since then is that Barrera has just gotten older and slower, and Pacquiao has developed more weapons.
Barrera would last longer than the 2+ rounds that Morales did, but I think Pacquiao wins by mid to late stoppage.

[zhubin]

Barrera has shown he can either brawl or fight technically. Pac can only fight one way...full steam ahead. If for any reason that fails him he can't revert to another style. Can Barrera keep Manny off of him and box him...maybe/maybe not. As for comparing the wear and tear of Marco and Eric. It's true...Marco isn't a young buck. But he has paced himself and fought smart enough in recent years to still come into a fight mentally and physically prepared. And don't forget...with Eric it wasn't just the wars that cought up to him...it was also the fact that he had to kill himself to make weight in recent years. Barrera is much more comfortable at 130 than Eric has been.

[SweetPea]

Barrera has shown he can either brawl or fight technically. Pac can only fight one way...full steam ahead. If for any reason that fails him he can't revert to another style. Can Barrera keep Manny off of him and box him...maybe/maybe not. As for comparing the wear and tear of Marco and Eric. It's true...Marco isn't a young buck. But he has paced himself and fought smart enough in recent years to still come into a fight mentally and physically prepared. And don't forget...with Eric it wasn't just the wars that cought up to him...it was also the fact that he had to kill himself to make weight in recent years. Barrera is much more comfortable at 130 than Eric has been.

I don't really disagree with anything you've said in this post.
But to me, it all comes down to these points:
Pacquiao has already handily beaten Barrera before. He didn't get lucky and beat him with one punch, he dismantled him over multiple rounds until it got to the point where Barrera's cornermen had to jump in to save their fighter.

Since that fight, Barrera has not improved, he has only gotten older and seen his reflexes further deteriorate. On the other hand, Pacquiao is a better fighter than he was when he TKO'd Barrera. Back then, he beat Barrera senseless with an attack that was just a jab then a straight left hand. Over his last few fights, he has developed his right hand to a point where it is just as dangerous as his left. If a younger Barrera couldn't hold off Pacquiao when all he had to worry about was a straight left, how can an older Barrera now be expected to hold off Pacquiao when he now has to worry about power punches coming from both hands? The odds of this happening are not good.

Also, I'm not convinced that Barrera has much of an offensive attack anymore. In Juarez II, he did nothing but throw a jab and then back up, throw a jab then back up, and so on and so on. That works against a fighter of Juarez's caliber. Against a fighter of Pacquiao's offensive ability, Barrera needs to throw combinations and make Manny pay for coming forward. I have serious doubts that Barrera can still put effective combinations together without leaving himself wide open to be countered by a younger, faster, harder punching opponent.

[albsur2006]

Barrera has shown he can either brawl or fight technically. Pac can only fight one way...full steam ahead. If for any reason that fails him he can't revert to another style. Can Barrera keep Manny off of him and box him...maybe/maybe not. As for comparing the wear and tear of Marco and Eric. It's true...Marco isn't a young buck. But he has paced himself and fought smart enough in recent years to still come into a fight mentally and physically prepared. And don't forget...with Eric it wasn't just the wars that cought up to him...it was also the fact that he had to kill himself to make weight in recent years. Barrera is much more comfortable at 130 than Eric has been.

CC. Good points. IMO you're really not giving Manny enough credit though. Manny has established decent setup jab and a right hook that is just as feared as his straight left. Manny has great footwork and head movement as well. Barrera won't be able to brawl with Manny regardless. MAB doesn't have the physical advantages EM had over Manny in height and reach. Manny is just as capable of landing well placed and timed shots as he is running in with flurries and brawling. That's why I don't see any way MAB can beat Manny. The only chance at MAB beating Manny would come from the possibility that the punishment Manny's taken in fighting Marquez, Morales three times, and Larios, has taken more of an affect on him than we know. I think that Manny just has a good chin like Shane Mosley and can take a punch well.