Barrera had Morales on one knee, and Morales still got the decision

On 19 February 2000, at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, two Mexican world champions met to unify the super-bantamweight titles. Érik Morales held the WBC belt and had never lost. Marco Antonio Barrera held the WBO belt and had lost twice, both times to the same man. They did not like each other. Nobody has ever quite settled why.

The student from Mexico City

Barrera was born in Mexico City on 17 January 1974. His background is usually described as middle class, and by 1994 he was at university studying to become a lawyer. He was a five-time Mexican amateur champion and turned professional at 15, in November 1989, winning in the second round. They called him the Baby-Faced Assassin.

He won his first 43 fights. On 31 March 1995 he outpointed Daniel Jiménez in Anaheim to win the WBO super-bantamweight title, and in February 1996 he stopped Kennedy McKinney in the 12th round of a fight in which he put McKinney down five times and went down once himself.

Then came Junior Jones. Barrera went into their fight in Tampa on 22 November 1996 as a big favourite. In the fifth round Jones knocked him down, Barrera's cornermen climbed into the ring, and he was disqualified. In the rematch at the Las Vegas Hilton on 18 April 1997, Jones won a unanimous decision.

Barrera did not box again for ten months. On 31 October 1998 he won the vacant WBO title back against Richie Wenton, who retired at the end of the third round after being knocked down twice. "Once hailed as the heir apparent to Julio Cesar Chavez," The Fight City wrote later, "many viewed Barrera as a fading champion following his losses to Jones."

The fighter's son from Tijuana

Morales was born in Tijuana on 1 September 1976 and grew up in the working-class Zona Norte. His father, José Morales, had a short professional career and then ran a gym in the city, where he trained Antonio Margarito, Jorge Arce and Luis Ramón Campas as well as his own sons. Érik started boxing under him at five. He turned professional at 16, on 29 March 1993, and knocked out José Orejel in the second round. They called him El Terrible.

On 6 September 1997, in El Paso, he knocked out Daniel Zaragoza in the 11th round with a right hand to the body to win the WBC title. Morales was 21 and Zaragoza 36. Boxing News described Zaragoza, on the canvas, waving a glove "to both congratulate his conqueror and say goodbye to the sport".

A year later, in Tijuana, Morales stopped Junior Jones in four rounds. In October 1999 he outpointed Wayne McCullough in Detroit, on the undercard of Naseem Hamed against César Soto. He came to Las Vegas 35–0, for the ninth defence of his title.

Nobody knows where it started

"No one can really pin down how the animosity began," The Fight City wrote. The explanations usually offered are geography and class. Barrera was the educated boy from the capital and Morales the fighter's son from the border. "They grew up almost 1,000 miles apart," Sky Sports wrote, "and the class gap was just as great."

The other explanation is Julio César Chávez. His career was coming to an end, and both men wanted to be the Mexican fighter who took his place. There was also talk of a sparring session years earlier that had gone wrong, but no source gives a date or a witness.

Morales later described what the two camps had been like. "We had many problems and many problems in the press," he said. "We had problems playing football, and members of our teams switched sides and there was a lot of gossip going around between the two camps."

They traded insults in the build-up, and before the first bell they did not touch gloves.

The build-up

The fight was on HBO's Boxing After Dark, and each man was paid $200,000. Morales was the favourite. Barrera was two inches shorter in both height and reach.

Morales said later that he had struggled to make the weight. "It killed me to make the limit of 122 pounds," he said, "and I did not climb into the ring at one hundred percent."

Twelve rounds

The referee was Mitch Halpern. Barrera came out fast with body shots and a hard left hook, and backed Morales into the ropes. In the third he counterpunched well, catching Morales with a left hook to the body whenever he came forward. In the fourth Morales landed a big right hand.

The fifth is the round people remember. Morales was caught with a right and pinned on the ropes, then came off them throwing more than 20 punches that Barrera did not answer. "The turning point of the fight may have been in the fifth round," the Las Vegas Sun reported, "when Morales landed a succession of big right hands to the head, pummeling Barrera around the ring." Barrera survived it and came back with flurries of his own before the bell. Nobody went down. The Ring later named it the Round of the Year.

Both men were cut. Barrera bled from under his left eye, and late in the fight a cut opened by Morales's right eye. Early in the ninth Barrera hurt Morales with a left hook. Morales came back and cut him under the eye, then walked onto a three-punch combination. The 11th was Morales's. He simply threw more.

At the start of the 12th the referee told them to touch gloves, and they did. Boxing News says Morales then shoved Barrera in the throat. In the final minute Barrera caught him with a left hook on the ropes and Morales went down on one knee. Halpern counted it as a knockdown.

What actually put him down is still argued over. The Las Vegas Sun's fight report said it "appeared to be more of a slip". Others have called it a push. Morales shook his head at the ruling and spent the rest of the round running at Barrera, looking for a knockdown of his own. He did not get one. All three judges scored the round 10–8 to Barrera.

The decision

It went to a split decision. Dalby Shirley scored it 115–112 for Morales and Carol Castellano 114–113 for Morales. Duane Ford had Barrera ahead 114–113. The Associated Press had it level at 114–114.

The knockdown had not been enough. Scored as an ordinary 10–9 round, the 12th would still have left Morales ahead on two cards. Morales threw far more punches, landing 319 of 868, and Barrera landed 299 of 618. According to The Fight City, most ringsiders preferred Barrera's power to Morales's work rate. Boxing News thought Barrera had "seemingly done enough", but that "this was no robbery".

Morales was 36–0. "The people needed and wanted a great fight like this and we gave it to them," he said. "He was the biggest puncher I've ever faced. We were both hurt in the fight."

Barrera was now 49–3. "It was my type of fight all the way, and I did what I wanted to do," he said. "I don't know what I have to do to win in Las Vegas." He added: "I thought I could knock him out. I just couldn't finish him."

HBO's Lou DiBella said, "We would love a rematch." Barrera said there was "no need for a rematch because I beat him this time."

Afterwards

Four days later the WBO decided it did not agree with the judges and reinstated Barrera as its champion. Morales had said on the night that it was his last fight at 122 pounds, and he moved up to featherweight.

The Ring made it the Fight of the Year for 2000. Morales had the win and the unbeaten record. Barrera had a belt back and a grievance. It would be more than two years before they met again.