Mexican great Marco Antonio Barrera once revealed the best defensive fighter that he ever shared a ring with.
Known by his moniker ‘Baby-Faced Assassin’, Barrera is widely considered amongst the boxing community to be one of the greatest Mexican fighters of all time.
His storied career spanned across several decades although the bulk of his in-ring success came during the early 2000s where he produced victories over the likes of Prince Naseem Hamed, Kevin Kelley and countryman Erik Morales.
His memorable trilogy with Morales is often credited with being one of the greatest in boxing history, producing several bouts that remain a talking point amongst the boxing community to this very day.
In a round of ‘Best I Faced’ with The Ring Magazine, Barrera didn’t hesitate to name Juan Manuel Marquez as the best defensive fighter that he ever faced, as he claims the Mexican great was ‘difficult to hit’.
“Definitely. He’s a guy that just waits for a counterpunch. He provokes you to think you can hit him, and when you get close to hitting him, he moves so he can position himself to counterpunch you. It was extremely difficult to get hold of the guy.”
Barrera and Marquez faced each other on just one occasion, a showdown for the WBC world super-featherweight title at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas back in May of 2007. Marquez got the better of his countryman on the night, defeating him via unanimous decision to dethrone him of his WBC world title.
