In October 2007, after his second one-sided loss to Manny Pacquiao, Marco Antonio Barrera called it a career. It didn't last. Of course it didn't. When does it?

The living legend came back to fight 13 months later in Chengdu, China, against journeyman Sammy Ventura. Barrera stopped him in four rounds in a new weight class. Gone was his relationship with Golden Boy Promotions, where he had been one of the foundation stars of the company with Oscar de la Hoya, Shane Mosley and Bernard Hopkins.

The sport was starting to pass him by. Fittingly, he signed with Don King for his comeback. Neither have been at their best in years.

A fight in January with Freudis Rojas caused a lot of controversy. Fans booed when Barrera's original tomato can opponent pulled out, replaced by the 33-year old Cuban with the 1-7-1 career record coming in. A headbutt opened up a nasty gash on Barrera's forehead and caused a third-round DQ. No one was happy, least of all Barrera and King, who had already signed to take on British prospect Amir Khan in March.

Watching Barrera get treated like a third-rate fighter by the bigger, stronger, faster, younger Khan in Manchester was somewhat painful for me. I'm not the world's biggest Barrera fan (in my heart, I'm a Morales guy), but I've got tremendous respect for what he's done in his career. He's a first-ballot Hall of Famer. And unless something major changes with Amir Khan's chin, Barrera at his peak was twice the fighter Khan can ever be. And that's not a knock on Khan, either.

It was painful to watch because that was not Marco Antonio Barrera. That was an old, out of his depth, physically destroyed Barrera trying to stand in there with an offensive phenom of a fighter who would not relent. Barrera was given no quarter, even when an accidental headbutt opened another nasty gash on his forehead. Khan did what he should have with the opponent that showed up in the ring. Barrera did all he could, which sadly was "nothing."

Marco Antonio has nothing left. Period. The epic battle with Juan Manuel Marquez in 2007 was the last great fight he had in him, I think. Fighters often do get old "overnight" -- one fight they're themselves, the next one they're not. He fought Pacquiao in the rematch only to not get knocked out, and Freddie Roach has said publicly that Pacquiao held back once he felt he was in no danger and in firm control because he didn't want to embarrass Barrera.

Beating Sammy Ventura means nothing. The fact that he couldn't touch Amir Khan is a huge deal.

But Barrera won't stop. The fact that the fight probably should have been a no-contest will give him that "I can still do it" feeling even if it's foolish. Cut or no cut, Khan whooped him bad. And Barrera couldn't stop him.

The warrior spirit is there in flashes. But flashes aren't good enough to beat good fighters. At 135 pounds, Barrera is old and undersized. He doesn't have the strength or the speed to hang in with the division's best. It's not a fault; it's just a reality.

Marco Antonio Barrera shouldn't have come back, and he shouldn't keep trying to bang out that fourth weight division world title. It's not worth the physical toll it will take on him. But when you're talking about Barrera, you're also talking about a proud man. He'll fight on.

Personally, I just have no desire to see the legend take his knocks anymore. I had a similar feeling after watching Manny Pacquiao beat the crap out of Oscar de la Hoya. I'm not a pansy about this stuff, either. I love a good war in the boxing ring. I'm not going to be one of these guys that says the violence isn't part of the appeal, though that's always open to moronic interpretation from those that don't get that the violence is just one aspect of the incredible stuff these athletes do.

What I don't like is watching an aging fighter that can barely defend himself get cracked. It's not entertaining, it's just sad. And it's a necessary part of the sport, too, in its own way. Without that fight, how does a fighter know when enough is enough? What's bothersome is that they rarely act and say, "Well, that is enough." They cherry-pick something to convince themselves they can go on. Barrera has the cut. Oscar has the weight drain. Roy Jones is an interesting case in that it seems like he really came to love his job once his physical gifts began to erode.

He'll fight on. They all will. This is boxing, it's fighter pride, and it's the guts to take the chance again. It's not about legacy. Barrera could lose to Freudis Rojas in a rematch and it wouldn't change what he did in his prime. Athletes in all sports play "too long." But Michael Jordan with the Wizards wasn't getting hit in the head, and neither was Jet Brett Favre.

He'll fight on. And it won't be pretty.

The Sky Sports commentators remarked after Amir Khan's win over Marco Antonio Barrera, "You can't take the shine off of this win."

I respectfully disagree.

Do not get me wrong. Amir Khan was a physical mismatch for Marco Antonio Barrera and he dominated all five rounds of action. He absolutely manhandled the veteran Mexican. But there are some asterisks, and those that don't see them are, in my view, a bit blind to the obvious.

First and foremost, Barrera was stopped on a cut in the fifth round. It was a horrible, awful gash on his hairline, which sent blood pouring endlessly into his left eye.

The problem I have is the cut was awful and stop-worthy when it first opened. In the first round. Doesn't it seem a bit convenient that the fight went until the fifth round before being stopped, on the second doctor inspection? Because of that, it's a technical decision win for Khan. In all candor, the fight should've been stopped earlier and called a no contest.

I am not disputing that Khan was absolutely the better fighter. He was outstanding offensively as always, and only once and very briefly did Barrera even sting Khan, who seemed to celebrate every time he managed to stay on his feet from a clean shot.

Khan would've beaten Barrera without the cut, I have almost zero doubt about that. It would've taken a home run shot from the legend that I don't think he had in him tonight. But Khan got a win that probably should've been a no-contest, and that's a fact.

Talking up this win as if it acquits Khan's career prospects is foolish, because when he faces a guy his own size that isn't shot, it might be a different story again. That said, Khan looked better defensively, and by that I mean he mostly used his offense to keep his defense viable. He's never giong to be a Winky Wright or an Arthur Abraham, but he kept his hands up and stayed defensively aware when he wasn't attacking Barrera. It was obvious improvement, and a good sign.

I like Amir Khan. I'm not saying he "stole" a win. But hyping this up to be a huge, huge deal is just too much. It's a good win, and he looked very good in the ring. He was way too much for Barrera, but he was the bigger man, the stronger man, the faster man, and the younger man. Youth doesn't always play into a fight, but this is a 35-year old Barrera with years of wars under his belt. It's been two years since he's looked good in a fight. 135 is much too high a weight for him, too.

But thank goodness for the Brits that Khan won, because the rest of the night was not so hot. Enzo Maccarinelli (29-3, 22 KO) was crushed by a monstrous right hand from Ola Afolabi (14-1-3, 6 KO), which knocked him out in the ninth round. The awkward, slick Afolabi wore Maccarinelli out by laying on him and grinding his energy down enough to get him downright exhausted. He then blasted away with one big shot. Afolabi also hurt Macca in the third round.

In the other main card fight, Brit Nicky Cook (29-2, 16 KO) lost his WBO 130-pound title by fourth round TKO to unbeaten Puerto Rican Roman "Rocky" Martinez (22-0-1, 13 KO). Cook controlled the opening three rounds with relative ease, then was stunned with a left hook and a left uppercut that put him down in the fourth. Cook fought on, but was drilled down with another left hook and the fight was stopped.

The British PPV audience didn't see the first two Integrated Sports PPV fights live, but did see Matthew Hall take Bradley Pryce's Commonwealth junior middleweight title by stunning second round beatdown. Hall (22-1, 15 KO) knocked down Pryce (27-7, 17 KO) three times before it was finally stopped. In the second televised bout, Craig Lyon (5-0, 2 KO) won a four-round decision over debuting Anwar Alfadwi, who wore some sort of a Tarzan/grass skirt outfit.

It was, to say the least, a night I didn't expect. I took Barrera, and I'll admit to having been way wrong. I thought the fight could go two ways; it went the one I bet against, and how. Afolabi I thought would get overwhelmed and his cuteness wouldn't serve him against hard-punching Maccarinelli; he's better defensively and tougher-chinned than I thought. I thought Cook would outbox Martinez. He did for three rounds, and then oops!

An entertaining card, especially for $24.95. Despite my reservations with declaring Khan "back!!!!!" I don't at all regret buying the show. Good stuff overall, and this is the best Khan has looked to date. I still like the guy, but the questions about his chin are not gone.

The show starts live at 4pm ET. We'll be here. Join us!

via d.yimg.com

Amir Khan and Marco Antonio Barrera made weight for tomorrow's fight, with Khan a half-pound under the limit at 134.5 pounds and Barrera stripping stark raving naked to make the 135-pound limit.

Sky is sort of making an issue of Barrera being three ounces over before stripping down and making the weight, but I don't think it's likely to have any big effect on the outcome of the fight. Shane Mosley was briefly a couple ounces over at the weigh-in for Margarito, too. It happens.

Everyone else made weight, too.

The card starts tomorrow at 4pm ET on PPV here in the States. At just $24.95 I really am pretty excited to sit down and watch some Saturday afternoon fights.

We'll be here with live, round-by-round coverage and scoring for those that don't order, or those that do and want to jive talk during the action. Join us!

There are two fight cards we'll be calling this weekend, neither taking place in the States, but four fights overall.

Again: If you don't know a fighter and just aren't comfortable making a pick, don't make a pick if you'd rather not. If you've never made picks before, now's as good a time as any to start!

Friday, March 13

Lucian Bute v. Fulgencio Zuniga (Super Middleweights, 12 Rounds - Bute's IBF title on the line)

Hey look! Another Friday the 13th.

Bute (23-0, 18 KO) and Zuniga (22-3-1, 19 KO) headline a "special" ShoBox from Montreal's Bell Centre, marking the 11th straight fight Bute has had there. He's become a big draw for the building and there's good money up there, so who can blame him in these economic times?

Zuniga, 31, is your typical Colombian fighter, a hard puncher who likes to fight. He's been through three weight divisions as a pro: 154, 160 and now 168. In every one of them, he's won until losing to the first big challenge. Daniel Santos beat him at 154, Kelly Pavlik knocked him out at 160, and Denis Inkin beat him last September at 168. Zuniga's last fight was a KO win in Colombia in November. Since Zuniga started at 154, you might guess he's rather small for the division, and he is. At 5'10", he's four inches shorter than Bute, though they both have a 70" reach.

Bute is probably a better fighter than Inkin, and there's really no reason he doesn't dominate this fight. He's got way more skill than Zuniga. It's a fact. But Zuniga can throw some bombs, and Bute will mix it up. We saw Librado Andrade buzz the hell out of Bute last October, but most guys wouldn't have gotten through the first 11 rounds that robot chin Andrade did, either. In this fight, I have to brake for monster Bute. He will dominate. Bute TKO-9

Saturday, March 14

Amir Khan v. Marco Antonio Barrera (Lightweights, 12 Rounds)

Now this is a pick'em fight. It's not the most compelling fight ever, nor is it the biggest fight in the world. It's a young star looking to rebound from a devastating defeat with a win over a faded legend that might not quite be faded enough.

Khan (19-1, 15 KO) has all the offensive gifts in the world. I like watching him fight. I always will. But his chin is not just bad. It's the stuff of tall tales. "The Boxer Who Couldn't Be Punched." Barrera's not a really heavy puncher, and he certainly isn't going to be one at 135 pounds. But Willie Limond knocked Khan down, and Breidis Prescott annihilated him. We recently saw Breidis Prescott have his struggles with Humberto Toledo, who has certainly been stopped before.

Usually when I talk about a fighter's flaws, it goes without saying that they're certainly better at whatever than I am. But with Khan's chin, it's not like that. Khan would have a bad chin for a drunk guy in a drunk 1am barroom brawl.

I think there is a chance that Khan overwhelms Barrera early on and can stop him. Barrera's tougher than nails, even aged, and it took 11 rounds of severe beating from Manny Pacquiao to give him his only stoppage loss, and Barrera's been fighting for 20 years.

But I can't pick Khan. I can't pick a guy whose chin is that bad. I really like Khan, I think he seems like a super kid, never has seemed to act "spoiled" as others have said, and boy do I think a lot of offensive talent could be down the tubes because of a bad chin. But I can't pick him over Barrera. Still, I'm very intrigued. Barrera TKO-6

Nicky Cook v. Roman Martinez (Junior Lightweights, 12 Rounds - Cook's WBO title on the line)

Cookie's a fine fighter, solid guy that has moved up to 130 from 126 and won a title last September over Alex Arthur, which sent Arthur into a bit of a tantrum in the press afterward. He even feigned surprise that he'd lost. Cook clearly won that bout, which was underneath Prescott waxing Khan something awful.

Now he returns beneath Khan again, this time against Puerto Rican Roman "Rocky" Martinez. Martinez, 26, has fought a few times in the States but mostly in Puerto Rico. He's beaten some C+/B- fighters along the way (Francisco Lorenzo, Daniel Jimenez, Jose Luis Soto Karass, Walter Estrada, etc.) and now he gets a crack at a world title on someone else's turf.

Cook himself may really be no more than a B- fighter, and this is a nice-looking matchup and could be the most competitive of these four bouts. Cook's only loss came to Steven Luevano in 2007, and the only blemish on Rocky's record is a six-round draw early in his career. I'm pretty much winging this one, and going with the guy who has home court. Cook UD-12

Enzo Maccarinelli v. Ola Afolabi (Cruiserweights, 12 Rounds - Vacant WBO interim title on the line)

It's a mismatch brought to you by the good folks in Frank Warren's brain. Macca may not be the best fighter in the world, but he's beaten better foes than Afolabi before, whose KO percentage doesn't suggest he'll be able to take advantage of Enzo's iffy chin. Maccarinelli TKO-5

Marco Antonio Barrera is more than confident in his chances to beat young Englishman Amir Khan on March 14 in Manchester. He didn't beat around the bush:

I will beat Khan because I have more experience than him and I’m still a much better fighter than he is. Khan is tall and has a good jab and hand speed. He is a good young fighter but there’s nothing he can do between now and March 14 to surpass my skills and experience.

This is becoming the prevalining thought among many of us, I think. Barrera isn't who he used to be, but...eh, I don't wanna sound mean, but who the hell is Amir Khan? Really. Even if you like the kid (and I do), why would you pick him to win this fight?

He'd have to be exceptionally heavy-handed (he's not), or an A+ offensively (he's not), or Barrera would have to have a bad beard (he does not). Barrera has never been a huge puncher and isn't now for sure, but Willie Limond can't crack a peanut and put Khan on his behind. Breidis Prescott, who we've twice seen struggle to varying degrees against B- or C+ fighters on Friday Night Fights, knocked him out in one round.

Khan can beat Barrera, sure. He has to overwhelm him with speed, pray that Freddie Roach has improved his defense dramatically, and nail Barrera hard and early. He can do that. But I just don't see it -- Barrera's a better fighter than Khan, even faded. He's not being arrogant, I just think he's speaking the truth. Barrera took this fight because he knows it's a big win for him to knock off a young guy like this, even though we all know Khan's deficiencies.

From Dan Rafael's Notebook.

Despite the best efforts of Frank Warren and Don King, the vacant WBO lightweight title will not be decided on March 14 between Amir Khan and Marco Antonio Barrera. Instead, it will be decided much more fittingly on February 28 between lineal champion Juan Manuel Marquez and top challenger Juan Diaz.

Marquez-Diaz is basically best case scenario. With Campbell out of the division and Pacquiao never coming back to 135, we're talking the two best fighters that the class has to offer. The WBO made a just decision with this one. Khan-Barrera, which pits two top ten ranked WBO contenders (laughably so), would have been technically acceptable, but I think even the body knows that it would've gotten some lame press for that one.

So for the moment, kudos to the WBO.

UPDATE:

The vacant WBA "super championship" will be on the line, too, according to a Golden Boy press release. The WBA's super and regular titles are among the stupidest things in boxing. Paulus Moses holds the WBA "regular" title.

Promoters Frank Warren and Don King are currently lobbying the WBO to put their now-vacant lightweight title on the line for the March 14 bout between Amir Khan (19-1, 15 KO) and Marco Antonio Barrera (65-6, 43 KO).

Barrera, 35, is currently the No. 1 contender by the WBO's rankings, while 22-year old Khan is ranked ninth. Both rankings are rather absurd, all things considered, but that's sanctioning body rankings for you. Barrera hasn't beaten a good opponent in almost three years and Khan hasn't beaten anyone very good, period. Khan was also knocked out in 54 seconds last September and since then has fought once, beating journeyman Oisin Fagan.

Though I think the idea of Barrera and Khan as two guys that should contest a vacant title is pretty weak, it's not like the WBO will come up with anything better, either, and Warren and King will likely sell them on the idea. It's the top-ranked contender against another guy in the top ten. By definition, it's a perfectly credible vacant title fight. Using brainpower, it's really not, but whatever.

When HBO Sports said that they would be cutting back on the number of boxing pay-per-views, which had to be at least somewhat influenced by a brutal American economy and the massive flops of Calzaghe-Jones (November) and Pavlik-Hopkins (October), I took it with a grain of salt. Or an economy sized box of Morton's kosher salt. Whichever.

I'm sure most did. We've heard that line before, but then here it comes, pay-per-view after pay-per-view. HBO even planned to put a fight between Shane Mosley and Zab Judah on PPV last May, which was bizarre. Mosley has never been a PPV draw besides his fights with Oscar de la Hoya, and has never drawn much period as the A-side of a fight. Great fighter? Yes. Money in the bank? No. And Judah has been teetering on professional opponent for a while now.

Luckily Judah fought a shower door for free and the PPV was scrapped, which led to Mosley facing Ricardo Mayorga -- another fight HBO had slotted for pay-per-view before putting Pavlik-Hopkins on instead -- and Judah facing Joshua Clottey on Boxing After Dark.

The sheer volume of pay-per-views and the lack of quality coming out of them for the price demanded ($44.95 to $54.95 for a top shelf main event, not in HD) has been a complaint for years.

HBO, to their credit, has no PPV scheduled unless they wind up as the producers and distributors of the May 2 Hatton-Pacquiao fight, which is likely. But that doesn't mean boxing as a whole isn't gearing up to fire off a series of five, count 'em, five pay-per-view shows in February and March.

What are we looking at here?

Today, for instance, a viewer with iNDemand pay-per-view might choose to order Ruslan Chagaev's heavyweight title defense against little-known, lightly-regarded Carl Davis Drumond. "Why would anyone pay to see that?" you might ask. Good question. For $24.95, it's a "bargain" (coughcough), and here in the lean sporting months there's little to watch sports-wise at two o'clock in the afternoon eastern. So maybe you're up for Chagaev-Drumond!

Hey, I'm not, but whatever floats your boat.

Is Bad Left Hook Gonna Cover It?: Not unless I stumble upon a stack of cash sometime between now and 1pm.

On February 21, Bob Arum's Top Rank brings us a double main event, two-site pay-per-view extravaganza live from both Youngstown, Ohio, and Madison Square Garden in New York City. Youngstown's Kelly Pavlik defends the middleweight championship of the world against Marco Antonio Rubio, and in the hallowed halls of the Garden, Miguel Cotto main events against Brit welter Michael Jennings. Both are rebound fights; let's not get it twisted. But there's also a useful undercard, with John Duddy facing off against Matt Vanda and Anthony Peterson matching up with two-time title challenger Edner Cherry.

What's that? Four watchable fights? Get out of here, Bob. That's not how boxing pay-per-view works.

$39.95 figures to be the going rate for the Pavlik and Cotto Show, and it sounds like a keeper.

Is Bad Left Hook Gonna Cover It?: Signed, sealed, delivered -- we'll be here for this bad boy.

Then we come to March 14, and another overseas show headed to American television sets by the wonder of point and click ordering. Offensive phenom Amir Khan will battle faded veteran Marco Antonio Barrera in a fight that could bring out the sleeping warrior in the Mexican legend, and could spell doom for the chinny Brit, whose "top prospect" tag was getting shaky enough before Breidis Prescott knocked his block off.

This one, though, is pretty much good news all around. Khan-Barrera could be a heck of a good fight, plus with Nicky Cook defending his 130-pound title against Roman Martinez and cruiserweight Enzo Maccarinelli facing ...well, Ola Afolabi, there's another actual undercard going on. Afolabi is a substitue for Argentina's Victor Ramirez, and not a very good one, either.

Also, this is likely to be another $24.95 card given the timeslot (American afternoon) and the fact that there's not a single American draw on the show, which might sound insulting to Barrera who still has his fans, but this ain't the Barrera of years ago and everyone knows it.

Is Bad Left Hook Gonna Cover It?: We're in it to win it.

March 21. Roy Jones. Omar Sheika. MMA on the undercard. Pensacola, Florida, are you ready?

Questions to ponder:

1. Will Jones and Square Ring try to pay Michael Buffer to be there?

2. Can Sheika, who turns 32 in February and hasn't fought since September 2007, muster up enough sock to knock Jones out and finish Roy's career?

3. If Jones wins, will he talk about how he wants to fight Antonio Tarver again? Remember, Tarver is a near lock bet to lose to Chad Dawson for the second time on March 14.

4. If Jones wins, will he try to call out Hopkins again?

5. If Jones wins, will he try to lure Calzaghe out of retirement, feeling that boxing fans simply must see the two legends square off in another exciting contest?

6. If Jones dominates, how many minutes (yes, minutes) will it take for the first article to pop up online that Jones looks "better than ever" at 40 years of age?

Is Bad Left Hook Gonna Cover It?: My utter mocking of this card and total non-belief in the idea that people have to mix boxing and MMA on the same card might lead you to think we're not coming within ten feet of this stinker. But chances are we're gonna do it. I'll cover Jones-Sheika and whatever other boxing fight(s?) are on the card, and if they actually do the MMA portion (color me skeptical, by the way), my good friend Brent Brookhouse of Bloody Elbow will be handling those fights, because even though I'm an MMA fan, my knowledge of the game is rudimentary in comparison, and when you've got the better option, hey, do it.

On March 28, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. headlines his umpteenth "Latin Fury" card, which Mexican fans keep buying in enough numbers that Arum keeps happily shoving them into the marketplace, despite the fact that he all but flat-out admits, "Hey, for someone people buy this junk, so I'm gonna keep peddlin' it!"

Chavez will face an untested guy with a fluffed up record that no one's ever heard of, and on the undercard Fernando Montiel will face Eric Morel. I actually like Morel for the upset in that fight.

Is Bad Left Hook Gonna Cover It?: I have never and will never pay for a show Chavez Jr. main events. I can say that with full confidence, because he will never be good enough to main event a show truly worth buying. I don't begrudge him his financial success as the go-to "Latin Fury" guy, nor do I have any intense dislike of him. But I wouldn't pay to see Edner Cherry main event, either. If Chavez ever fights anyone worth a crap, it's the same career.

Note: This is a RUMOR. No one is trying to present it as fact at this stage. But it is worth discussing.

With a March 14 date against Amir Khan in Manchester set, Marco Antonio Barrera was taking a big risk even against a nobody fighter like Johnny Nolasco on January 31 in Guadalajara.

Nolasco, though, no-showed the weigh-in for the event, and was replaced by an even bigger nobody by the name of Freudis Rojas, who wound up headbutting Barrera, causing somewhere between three and 10,000 stitches depending on the report, and putting that March 14 date in jeopardy.

The Barrera camp says they'll be ready to go by March, and the fight with Khan is still on schedule for the 14th, which is just about eight weeks away right now.

But is there more to the Nolasco no-show story than meets the eye? There may be. Jake Donovan of BoxingScene.com got a tip from Boxing Times Blue Corner editor Paul Magno that could potentially wind up pretty ugly.

Rosa Diaz, Nolasco's agent, told Mexican newspaper Reforma that Barrera's brother and trainer, Jorge Barrera, contacted the Nolasco camp attempting to arrange a dive from their fighter.

Diaz said, "He said, 'We need to make sure that Nolasco doesn't make it past the fourth round,'" and intimated that because they refused to agree to such a thing, Nolasco was taken out of the fight and replaced by Rojas. The Barrera-Rojas fraud was met with harsh criticism from the Guadalajara crowd and the Mexican press.

Currently, WBC President Jose Sulaiman has his body investigating the matter, but I think it's no stretch to say that the WBC is unlikely to come up with anything, because outside of a recorded conversation or an admission of guilt, it's not like it ever becomes more than Team Barrera's word against Team Nolasco's, and the Barrera camp has a lot of credibility and history. Nolasco's team, simply put, does not.