Marco Antonio Barrera

Marco Antonio Barrera
Marco Antonio Barrera 2012
Data
Birth Name	Marco Antonio Barrera Tapia
Fight name	Baby Faced Assassin
Weight class	lightweight
nationality	Mexican
birthday	17th January 1974
place of birth	Mexico city
style	Left delivery
size	1.68 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles	75
Victories	67
Knockout victories	44
Defeats	7th
No value	1

Marco Antonio Barrera (born January 17, 1974 in Mexico City ) is a Mexican boxer, former three-time WBO world champion in super bantamweight, IBO and WBC world champion in featherweight and WBC and IBF world champion in super featherweight. In 2017 he was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame .

Professional career

Marco Barrera made his professional debut on November 22, 1989 at the age of 15. He won 34 fights in a row and became Mexican champion and NABF title holder in super flyweight, as well as WBA continental champion in super bantamweight. He also managed a win against Eddie Cook (19-2). In April 1994 he had won a WBC championship elimination match in super flyweight against Carlos Salazar (match balance: 35-4), but exceeded the weight limit, which is why Salazar got the chance to fight for the title.

His first world championship fight he won on March 31, 1995 unanimously on points against Daniel Jiménez (19-3), making him the first WBO world champion in super bantamweight. However, the WBO was not yet one of the major associations at that time. He won the title successfully against Frankie Toledo (24-2), Maui Diaz (27-1), Agapito Sánchez (17-4), Eddie Croft (22-2), Kennedy McKinney (28-1), Jesse until September 1996 Benavides (40-4), Orlando Fernandez (22-6) and Jesse Magana (18-3) defend. Seven of the eight title defenses ended prematurely, only with Sánchez he went through the rounds and won unanimously on points.

Unbeaten in 43 fights so far, he boxed in his ninth title defense on November 22, 1996 against Junior Jones (42-2), where he suffered his first defeat. After the fight was pretty even on points, there was a clash with the heads in the fifth round, causing Barrera a severely bleeding cut injury to his left eye. Shortly afterwards he was knocked down by a right to his chin and counted. Barrera came up again and the fight was released again, but Jones then attacked Barrera with a series of blows in the ring ropes, with Barrera going down again. Since one of his supervisors entered the ring early, the fight was stopped and Jones declared the winner by disqualification. On April 18, 1997, he also lost the rematch with Jones unanimously on points (111: 116, 113: 114, 112: 114).

Jones lost the title in December 1997 to a premature loss to Kennedy McKinney, who had lost to Barrera in February 1996. However, this put the title down without a fight to switch to featherweight. A fight for the vacant title was then agreed between the British champion Richie Wenton (22-3) and Barrera, who had won three fights since his loss to Jones. Barrera won the duel prematurely on October 31, 1998 in the third round, making it the WBO super bantamweight champion for the second time.

He defended the title in 1999 through TKO in the first round against the British European champion Paul Lloyd (19-4) and unanimously on points against the South American champion Pastor Maurin (42-1). On February 19, 2000, he boxed in his third title defense against the also undefeated Mexican and WBC world champion Erik Morales (35-0). After a tough duel, which was voted Ring Magazine fight of the year , Barrera lost by majority decision of the judges.

Morales then also switched to featherweight, which is why Barrera was again named WBO super bantamweight champion. In 2000 he won three title defenses against Luiz Freitas (19-1), Jose Valbuena (18-1) and Jesus Salud (62-9) before he also rose to featherweight.

On April 7, 2001 he played his first fight in this weight class against the unbeaten number 1 from Great Britain, Naseem Hamed (35-0). Barrera surprised with a technically clean boxing style and won against the favorites unanimously on points, he was also IBO world champion. In September 2001 he beat Enrique Sánchez (28-1) prematurely and played a rematch against Erik Morales (41-0) on June 22, 2002, which he won this time unanimously on points. He was subsequently listed as number 1 in the world by Ring Magazine. He defended his position as world leader in November 2002 unanimously against Johnny Tapia (52-2) and in April 2003 by TKO against Kevin Kelley (54-5). On November 15, 2003, he boxed against the Filipino superstar Manny Pacquiao (37-2). In the course of the fight both boxers were down, Barrera was behind on points before losing to TKO in the eleventh round.

Barrera then rose to super featherweight, where he defeated Paulie Ayala (35-2) by TKO in his first fight . On November 27, 2004, he won again on points against Erik Morales (47-1) in a spectacular fight and became WBC world champion. The duel had again been voted fight of the year by Ring Magazine and the BWAA . He defended the title in 2005 against Mzonke Fana (22-2) and Robbie Peden (25-2), and twice against Rocky Juarez (25-1, 25-2) in 2006 .

On March 17, 2007 he lost on points against Juan Marquez (46-3), who had risen for this fight from the featherweight. In October 2007 he also lost a rematch against Manny Pacquiao (44-3) on points. He suffered another defeat on March 14, 2009 in the lightweight against Amir Khan (19-1). Barrera won his last professional fight on February 12, 2011 against Jose Arias (17-1).

successes

Amateur record: 56 wins - 4 defeats (5-time Mexican amateur champion)
Professional balance: 67 wins - 7 defeats - 1 without evaluation
3rd place of the best Mexican boxers of all time ( BoxRec )

April 1, 1992: Mexican super flyweight champion (5 title defenses)
August 28, 1993: NABF North American Super Flyweight Champion
October 22, 1994: WBA Penta-Continental Champion in Superbantamweight (1 title defense)

March 31, 1995: WBO world champion in super bantamweight (8 title defenses)
October 31, 1998: WBO world champion in super bantamweight (2 title defenses)
June 17, 2000: WBO World Superbantamweight Champion (2 title defenses)
April 7, 2001: IBO Featherweight Champion
June 22, 2002: WBC Featherweight Champion
November 27, 2004: WBC world champion in super featherweight (4 title defenses)
September 17th, 2005: IBF world champion in super featherweight

Web links

Marco Antonio Barrera in the BoxRec database
Official website

Individual evidence

↑ Joshua's compatriot owned the belts of WBA, IBF and WBC, at that time the WBO was not yet part of the illustrious circle. She has only been there since 2007. Since then, the undisputed champion has had four titles.

predecessor	Office	successor
Daniel Jiménez	World Superbantamweight Boxing Champion ( WBO ) March 31, 1995 - November 22, 1996	Junior Jones
Kennedy McKinney	World Superbantamweight Boxing Champion ( WBO ) October 31, 1998 - February 19, 2000	Erik Morales
Erik Morales	World Superbantamweight Boxing Champion ( WBO ) February 2000 - April 7, 2001	Agapito Sánchez
Erik Morales	Featherweight Boxing Champion ( WBC ) June 22, 2002 - June 2002	Erik Morales
Erik Morales	Super featherweight boxing champion ( WBC ) November 27, 2004 - March 17, 2007	Juan Manuel Marquez
Robbie Peden	Super featherweight boxing world champion ( IBF ) September 17, 2005 - 2006	Cassius Baloyi

personal data
SURNAME	Barrera, Marco Antonio
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Barrera Tapia, Marco Antonio
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	mexican boxer
DATE OF BIRTH	17th January 1974
PLACE OF BIRTH	Mexico City , Mexico

[1] Joshua's compatriot owned the belts of WBA, IBF and WBC, at that time the WBO was not yet part of the illustrious circle. She has only been there since 2007. Since then, the undisputed champion has had four titles.