People who know about the "Prince" will know he was far from his best when he met Barrera in the ring. After parting with Brendan Ingle and joining Oscar Suarez and Manny Steward, his style had been changed to such an extent that he lost most of his illusiveness and accuracy; his feet were more planted, he threw wide, crazy shots. Plus he lost his desire to train hard, and eventually lost his desire to fight with the large amount of money he made out of the game; he'd been there, done it. Barrera was in his prime, trained hard, and was out to prove a point to the world after his controversial loss to Morales.
I'v always believed that a prime Naz of 96-97 would beat Barrera in a tough fight, maybe even a war. With his illusive speed, movement and footwork, off-balance, unorthodox style, and devastating punching power coming from awkward angles, I think he would eventually TKO Marco in the later rounds. Plus, at this stage he was taking the fight game seriously; training with Brendan Ingle, and training hard. He also had something to prove at this stage. Not to mention Barrera was offered the fight by Frank Warren in 96, 98, and again by Naz in 2000 when he fought Augie Sanchez; and he turned the fight down each time; as did many other top ranked super bantam, and feather weights, including the rival champions.
I'v always believed that a prime Naz of 96-97 would beat Barrera in a tough fight, maybe even a war. With his illusive speed, movement and footwork, off-balance, unorthodox style, and devastating punching power coming from awkward angles, I think he would eventually TKO Marco in the later rounds. Plus, at this stage he was taking the fight game seriously; training with Brendan Ingle, and training hard. He also had something to prove at this stage. Not to mention Barrera was offered the fight by Frank Warren in 96, 98, and again by Naz in 2000 when he fought Augie Sanchez; and he turned the fight down each time; as did many other top ranked super bantam, and feather weights, including the rival champions.
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