Marco Antonio Barrera

BoxRec currently Barrera 55th in its list of the greatest boxers of all time, pound for pound, while ESPN ranked Barrera as 43rd on their list of the 50 greatest boxers of all time.

Marco Antonio Barrera Tapia (born January 17, 1974) is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1989 to 2011.

Barrera made his professional debut at 15 when he defeated David Felix by a knockout in round two on November 22, 1989.

The victory marked the beginning of a 43 fight win streak.

In 1990, Barrera had seven fights, including his first rise in quality opposition, when he defeated veteran Iván Salazar, by a decision in eight rounds.

In 1991, he had seven more fights, defeating boxers Abel Hinojosa, Javier Díaz and others.

Barrera began 1992 by winning his first professional title, defeating Justino Suárez by a decision in twelve rounds to win the Mexican super flyweight championship.

He retained the title three times before the end of the year which helped improved his ranking in the super flyweight division.

He defeated Abner Barajas by a decision in ten rounds, and Angel Rosario by a knockout in six rounds.

In 1993, Barrera had six bouts, winning each.

He defeated Salazar in a rematch and retained his title against Noe Santillana and among others.

By 1994, Barrera was attending University to become a lawyer and also continued his boxing career.

On April 13, he defeated future champion Carlos Salazar by a ten-round decision in Argentina.

He also defeated former world champion Eddie Cook before the end of the year.

He held multiple world championships in three weight classes between 1995 and 2007, from super bantamweight to super featherweight.

Barrera is well known for his trilogy with fellow Mexican legend Erik Morales, his duology with Manny Pacquiao, and his rivalries with Naseem Hamed and Juan Manuel Márquez.

Barrera began 1995 by fighting for a world title.

On March 31, he became the WBO super bantamweight champion by defeating Puerto Rican boxer Daniel Cobrita Jiménez by a decision in twelve rounds at Anaheim, California.

By this time, many boxing journalist were calling Barrera "Mexico's next Julio César Chávez."

He made four defenses before the year was over.

On June 2, 1995, he defeated future champion Frank Toledo via second round knock out.

Barrera knocked Toledo down twice before the fight was stopped.

On July 15, 1995, Barrera scored a first-round knockout win over Maui Díaz (27–1).

In his next bout, he won a twelve-round unanimous decision over future champion Agapito Sánchez.

On February 6, 1996, he fought on the first installment of HBO Boxing's spin-off series "HBO Boxing After Dark."

In one of the fights of the year, Barrera stopped Kennedy McKinney in 12 rounds, knocking him down five times whilst suffering one knockdown himself.

After the McKinney fight, he defeated former WBO champion Jesse Benavides by third-round knockout.

On July 14, 1996, he defeated another former champion, Orlando Fernandez, by seventh-round TKO.

On November 22, 1996, he suffered his first career loss and lost his title to American boxer Junior Jones, by a disqualification in round five.

Barrera was knocked down in Round 5 by Jones, and was declared the loser by disqualification and not by knockout because Barrera's cornerman climbed onto the ring to stop the fight as Jones was finishing Barrera.

On April 18, 1997, he was given a chance to regain his title, facing Jones in a rematch in Las Vegas.

Barrera was defeated by a unanimous decision that fans thought was controversial, but retired from boxing nonetheless regardless of the opinions of his die-hard fans.

Barrera announced a comeback in 1998, a year later, and he started off by defeating Angel Rosario by a knockout in round five.

After two more wins, he was given another opportunity to fight for a world title by the WBO.

On October 31, he became a two-time world super bantamweight champion by defeating Richie Wenton by a knockout in three rounds, winning the WBO's vacant title.

In 1999, he had two title defenses and then he ran into controversy.

On December 18, he defeated César Najera in four rounds at California.

He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2017.

As an amateur, Barrera had a record of 104–4 and was a five-time Mexican national champion.

Before losing his first amateur contest, Barrera had an undefeated record of 56–0.