Mexican great Marco Antonio Barrera has revealed the greatest opponent that he ever shared the ring with.
Barrera made his way into the paid ranks back in 1995 after he drew the curtain on what was a stellar amateur career, where he won 104 of his 108 contests.
He would go on to win world titles across three weight divisions along the way, racking up a number of career defining victories over the likes of Prince Naseem Hamed, Erik Morales and Kevin Kelley to name just a few.
Barrera did suffer his fair share of defeats during his tenure however, falling short to fighters such as Juan Manuel Marquez, Amir Khan and Manny Pacquiao before his career came to an end in 2011.
In a round of ‘Best I Faced’ with The Ring Magazine, Barrera didn’t hesitate to reveal Morales as the best fighter that he ever crossed paths with, paying homage to the ‘toughness’ of his countryman.
“Morales is definitely the toughest opponent I have faced, because it almost seemed whenever I hit him it wouldn’t hurt him. And he’s a guy who would constantly give me pressure, and he hit really, really hard.”
Barrera and Morales shared the ring with each other on three occasions during their respective career, providing boxing fans with one of the greatest trilogies in the history of the sport.
Morales got the better of Barrera in their first encounter for the unified WBC and WBO super-bantamweight titles back in February 2000, but ‘The Baby Faced Assassin’ would get his revenge in their second and third clashes in 2002 and 2004 respectively, putting their memorable rivalry to bed in impressive fashion.
Morales became the first Mexico-born boxer in history to win world titles in four weight classes when he managed it from super-bantamweight to super-lightweight. He retired with a record of 52 wins and 9 defeats, and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2018.
