Mexican legend Marco Antonio Barrera has named one of his greatest rivals as the best fighter he faced during his professional career.
Barrera had an impressive professional career which culminated in him capturing multiple world titles across several weight classes between 1995 and 2007.
The bulk of his success came during the early 2000s where he produced wins over the likes of Kevin Kelley, Prince Naseem Hamed and countryman Erik Morales.
Barrera suffered his fair share of defeats along the way however, falling short to Amir Khan, Juan Manuel Marquez and Filipino great Manny Pacquiao prior to his retirement from the sport in 2011.
Speaking to The Ring Magazine, Barrera paid homage to fellow Mexican star Morales who he claims was the best opponent of his outstanding professional career.
“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.”
Morales and Barrera crossed paths on several occasions during their respective careers with the latter winning the series 2-1, producing three memorable encounters between 2000 and 2004.
‘El Terrible’ got the better of his rival in their first clash, defeating him via controversial split decision at the conclusion of their WBC and WBO super-bantamweight title unification in Las Vegas.
Barrera got his revenge in their second and third bouts however, producing points victories over his countryman to close the book on one of the greatest rivalries the sport has ever seen.
