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| Wednesday, June 26 Not so great Barrera-Morales rematch By Max Kellerman Special to ESPN.com |
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This last Saturday morning I told SportsCenter viewers that I was getting on a flight to Las Vegas to attend the Marco Antonio Barrera-Erik Morales rematch, which would take place that evening. I said on air that I was going not as a boxing commentator, but rather as a fan. The reason I was going to fly all that way was because I had not attended the first Barrera-Morales fight, which was one of the greatest fights I had ever seen (on TV) in my life, and I wanted to one day tell my grandchildren that I was at least ringside for the rematch. What I'll actually tell my grandkids is that I was ringside for Barrera-Morales. I'll leave out the detail about it being the rematch. I'll only be guilty of lying by omission. Barrera was also guilty of the sin of omission over the first half of the rematch -- as in, omission of punches. Where the first fight was fast-paced from the beginning, this one was slow through the first five frames. So slow, in fact, that the crowd began booing midway through he fourth round. And they were not booing Morales. The overwhelmingly pro-Barrera crowd booed their man after seeing him run for more than 10 boring minutes. It was the first time I can remember Barrera being booed in his entire career. Barrera continued to run up until the sixth, at which point he suddenly became the aggressor. Once Barrera changed strategy he changed the fight. The second half of the match to decide the featherweight championship of the world was entertaining, but it did not match the level of action throughout most of the original encounter. It is one thing to stink it out for a couple of rounds. It is quite another to do so when everyone expects a brawl. There is no getting around the fact that despite the action of rounds six through 12, this fight was a disappointment. Brian Kenny told me on the phone Sunday that around the ESPN newsroom, producers who heard my rant on SportsCenter and as a result tuned into the fight were asking him, "This is what Kellerman thinks is more compelling than the World Cup?" When a boxing match is less interesting than a soccer game, you know there are problems. And yet, the unpredictable nature of boxing is partly what compels us to watch. You just never know what is going to happen. In the case of the Barrera-Morales rematch we got half of a very good fight. Upon its conclusion, I thought Morales had won. When I looked at my scorecard, however, I found that I had it six rounds apiece -- a draw. Some more observations about the fight: Barrera did not "box" the first five rounds, as I have heard people say he did. He ran. There is a difference... In their first fight it was Barrera who repeatedly hurt Morales, but in this fight it was Barrera who was feeling the pain, mostly to the body, where Morales seriously hurt him at least twice... Both fights were close, and both times the guy who appeared to be the loser was awarded the decision... Chuck Giampa had the first three rounds for Barrera. I asked Chuck about his scorecard after the fight and he told me he thought Barrera was landing the much heavier shots. To my eye it appeared just the opposite... Whatever you think of the decision, Marco Antonio Barrera is now the one and only legitimate Ring Magazine featherweight champion of the world. A list of the Ring Magazine champs from heavyweight to junior featherweight:
Heavyweight - Lennox Lewis By awarding their belts to fighters who prove themselves the best in their divisions, Ring Magazine has done more to bring clarity and organization to the sport than anything else I can think of in my lifetime. Congratulations to them and to their Editor-in-Chief Nigel Collins for taking action.
Max Kellerman is a studio analyst for ESPN2's Friday Night Fights. |
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