 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date | April 7, 2001 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venue | MGM Grand Garden Arena, Paradise, Nevada, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Title(s) on the line | vacant IBO and Lineal Featherweight Championship | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tale of the tape | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Result | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Barrera wins via 12-round unanimous decision (115-112, 116-111, 115-112) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Naseem Hamed vs. Marco Antonio Barrera , billed as Playing with Fire, was a professional boxing match contested on April 7, 2001, for the vacant IBO title and Hamed's lineal featherweight championship.
A fight between Naseem Hamed and Marco Antonio Barrera, which had been years in the making, was finally agreed upon in November 2000 for a March 3, 2001 date. [1] 3 months prior, Hamed, who had held the WBO featherweight title for nearly five years and had successfully defended it 15 times, decided to vacate the title rather than take less money to face mandatory challenger István Kovács. [2] However, as he had not lost in the ring, he was still regarded as the "lineal" champion. Barrera was the reigning WBO super bantamweight champion and was moving up to the featherweight division for the first time and, as a result, was instilled as a 3–1 underdog. [3] In January, the planned March 3 date was scrapped and instead the fight was announced to be taken place on April 7 instead in order for both fighters to finalize their contracts. [4] Hamed, who was making his American pay-per-view debut, was guaranteed a purse of $6 million while Barrera would earn $2 million. [5]
The usually aggressive Barrera changed his usual technique to combat the unorthodox Hamed, thoroughly outboxing Hamed throughout the contest. Barrera stood back for the entire fight, never charging towards Hamed in an effort to neutralize Hamed's powerful left-handed counter-punch. Hamed, who had not expected Barrera to take this approach, had trouble landing any offence as Barrera circled away and landed many counter-punches whenever Hamed attempted to engage him. In the 12th and final round, Barrera briefly abandoned his approach an began aggressively attacking Hamed before reverting to his previous tactic. Hamed, knowing he was behind on the scorecards, began swinging at Barrera wildly in hopes of scoring a knockout. During one such encounter, Hamed missed Barrera with a wild left hook leading to Barrera to lock Hamed into a full-nelson and drill his head into the turnbuckle, for which Barrera was deducted a point. However, the lost point would have no bearing on the result as Barrera would earn a unanimous decision victory with two scores of 115–112 and one score of 116–111. For Hamed, it was his first and only professional loss. [6]
After the bout, Hamed expressed interest in a rematch with Barrera, stating "I want Barrera again. I'm going to knock him out." Hamed held a rematch clause that he had to invoke within two months of this fight should he want to face Barrera in an immediate rematch. However, the two-month deadline came and went with no word from Hamed or his camp and Barrera moved on to face Enrique Sánchez instead. [7] Hamed finally announced in February 2002 that he would face unknown Spanish fighter Manuel Calvo on March 23, though the bout was later pushed back to May 18. [8] After over a year of inactivity Hamed would beat Calvo by unanimous decision in what would prove to be the final match of his career.
Barrera would vacate his newly won IBO featherweight title immediately following his victory. Initially his manager announced plans for Barrera to return to his previous weight division of super bantamweight and defend the WBO championship still in his possession, however Barrera ultimately decided to remain in the featherweight division, which he would remain until 2004. [9]
| Country | Broadcaster |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | Sky Sports |
 United States | HBO |
John Lee Anthony Tapia was an American professional boxer who competed from 1988 to 2011. He held multiple world championships in three weight classes, including the unified IBF and WBO super flyweight titles between 1994 and 1998, the unified WBA and WBO bantamweight titles between 1998 and 2000, and the IBF featherweight title in 2002. His 1999 loss by decision to Paulie Ayala was named the Fight of the Year by The Ring magazine.
Marco Antonio Barrera Tapia is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1989 to 2011. He held multiple world championships in three weight classes between 1995 and 2007, from super bantamweight to super featherweight.
Jorge Armando Arce Armenta, best known as Jorge Arce, is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1996 to 2014. He is a multiple-time world champion, and the second boxer from Mexico to win world titles in four weight divisions. In a storied career, Arce held the WBO light flyweight title from 1998 to 1999; the WBC and lineal light flyweight titles from 2002 to 2004; the WBO super flyweight title in 2010; the WBO junior featherweight title in 2011; and the WBO bantamweight title from 2011 to 2012. Additionally he held the WBC interim flyweight title from 2005 to 2006, the WBA interim super flyweight title from 2008 to 2009, and challenged once for the WBC featherweight title in his final fight in 2014.
Erik Isaac Morales Elvira is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1993 to 2012. He is the first Mexico-born boxer in history to win world championships in four weight classes, ranging from super bantamweight to light welterweight.
Juan Manuel Márquez Méndez is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1993 to 2014. He held multiple world championships in four weight classes, from featherweight to light welterweight, including the lineal championship at lightweight.
Ricardo Juárez is an American former professional boxer. He is a former WBC Silver featherweight champion and a multiple-time world title challenger. Juarez was known over his career for his aggressive fighting style and incredible durability.
Rafael Márquez Méndez is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1995 to 2013. He is a two-time world champion in two weight classes, having held the IBF bantamweight title from 2003 to 2007; and the WBC, Ring magazine, and lineal super bantamweight titles in 2007. He also held the IBO bantamweight title from 2005 to 2007, and challenged once for WBO featherweight title in 2011. Marquez was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame as part of the class of 2023.
Junior Jones is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1989 to 2002. He held world championships in two weight classes, including the World Boxing Association (WBA) bantamweight title from 1993 to 1994 and the World Boxing Organization (WBO) super bantamweight title from 1996 to 1997. He also held the International Boxing Organization (IBO) featherweight title from 1999 to 2000.
István Kovács, nicknamed Ko-Ko or sometimes The Cobra, is a Hungarian retired world champion boxer. He is a Secretary General of the AIBA.
Naseem Hamed, nicknamed Prince Naseem and Naz, is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2002. He held multiple featherweight world championships between 1995 and 2000, and reigned as lineal champion from 1998 to 2001. In 2015, he was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. The Ring magazine retroactively awarded Hamed their featherweight title in 2019 to acknowledge his dominance of the division and the multiple champions he defeated; he is the only former world champion in any division thus far to receive this honour.
Erik Morales vs. Marco Antonio Barrera III, billed as Once and For All, was a professional boxing match between the then 2-division world champion Marco Antonio Barrera and reigning WBC super featherweight world champion Erik Morales. It took place on November 27, 2004, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Marco Antonio Barrera vs. Erik Morales II, billed as For Honor and Pride, was a professional boxing match between then three-time super bantamweight and reigning lineal featherweight world champion Marco Antonio Barrera and WBC featherweight world champion Erik Morales. It took place on June 22, 2002, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Barrera won the contest by unanimous decision, with two judges scoring it 115-113 and the other scoring it 116-112 for Barrera.
Naseem Hamed vs. Wilfredo Vázquez was a professional boxing match contested on 18 April 1998 for the WBO and Lineal featherweight championship.
Naseem Hamed vs. Wayne McCullough, billed as "Halloween Fright Night" was a professional boxing match contested on October 31, 1998 for the WBO and Lineal featherweight championship.
Naseem Hamed vs. Paul Ingle was a professional boxing match contested on April 10, 1999 for the WBO and Lineal featherweight championships.
Naseem Hamed vs. César Soto was a professional boxing match contested on October 22, 1999, for the WBC, WBO and Lineal featherweight championships.
Naseem Hamed vs. Vuyani Bungu, billed as Capital Punishment, was a professional boxing match contested on 11 March 2000, for the WBO and Lineal featherweight championship. The bout took place at the London Olympia.
Naseem Hamed vs. Augie Sanchez was a professional boxing match contested between reigning WBO featherweight champion Naseem Hamed and Augie Sanchez. The bout took place on August 19, 2000 at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Ledyard, Connecticut.
Naseem Hamed vs. Manuel Calvo was a professional boxing match contested on 18 May 2002, for the vacant IBO featherweight championship. It was Hamed's last fight, and was watched by eleven million viewers in the United Kingdom.