Just did the first installment of Around the Horn. Had a lot of fun. Especially when we went around the horn on the topic "what was the best sporting event you watched over the weekend?" Notre Dame losing to B.C. seemed to be the consensus selection of our esteemed panelists.

Needless to say, my pick was Marco Antonio Barrera's unanimous decision defense of his featherweight world championship against Johnny Tapia on Saturday night. And, of course, they all gave me the business for shoehorning in a boxing reference.

But what was I supposed to do, lie? Should I have said that watching unbeaten college football teams fall one after the other was the best stuff I watched? It was good, but better than Barrera-Tapia? No way.

What about the Nets-Wizards showdown, or Kobe Bryant giving the league back-to-back monster triple-doubles? All good stuff. Not Barrera-Tapia.

And the funny thing is, Barrera-Tapia was not even a Superfight. The outcome was a little too predictable. That's right, I am admitting that everyone else was right about this one and I was wrong. I thought going in that this match might win a retro-historical judgment as a Superfight.

I thought that Tapia had a chance to outbox a boxing-conscious Barrera by keeping his hands busy, by outhustling the champion. I even thought, in light of Barrera being hurt in the body by Erik Morales in their last fight, and Tapia's bodyshot knockout win over Cesar Soto in his first fight at 126 pounds, that Tapia had an outside chance of doing the unthinkable -- stopping the great Marco Antonio.

Conventional wisdom held that Barrera has been too good in recent years and would be too big for the supposedly naturally smaller Tapia. I don't know that any natural size advantage manifested itself in their fight, but one thing is for sure -- Barrera was too good for an in-shape and very game challenger.

From the opening bell of the first round till the final bell of the last, Barrera -- once upon a time an offensive-minded but utterly defenseless fighter -- outboxed Tapia, who was once upon a time a fleet-footed but relatively light-punching boxer.

Tapia constantly moved his hands, but not his head. Barrera did that for him. Sporting a stiff jab, and countering Tapia's rushes beautifully, Barrera turned in a smart, economical and not uninteresting performance.

Imagine it's three years ago, and someone predicts that Marco Antonio Barrera will outbox Naseem Hamed, Erik Morales and Tapia in big-fight succession? Absurd!

Hamed's athleticism and unorthodox style were sure to give Barrera fits; Morales' height and reach (and Barrera's past trouble with the rangy Junior Jones) would certainly allow Morales to keep the fight at his chosen distance; Tapia's mobility and hand-speed figured to force Barrera to brawl with Johnny in order to win.

Barrera outbox these guys? Couldn't be! And yet it be.

Marco Antonio Barrera has transformed himself from a seek-and-destroy Mexican assassin with a murderous left hook to the body and no semblance of any defense whatsoever, into a brilliant counter-puncher capable of dominating world-class winners with his left jab.

Elite athletes are sometimes able to adapt, to make adjustments that enable them to get better and prolong their careers. What Barrera has done, however, is totally transform his identity as a fighter. Few athletes in history have done that. Remarkable.

Max Kellerman is a studio analyst for ESPN2's Friday Night Fights and the host of the new show Around The Horn.