A punch in Houston, a slip in the seventh: Barrera evens it with Morales

Érik Morales won the first fight on a split decision in February 2000, and Marco Antonio Barrera said there was no need for a rematch because he had beaten him. Four days later the WBO gave Barrera his super-bantamweight title back. It took two years, a move up in weight for both of them and a fight at a press conference before they met again.

Barrera and Hamed

Barrera made three more defences of the WBO title in 2000. The first, a first-round knockout of Luiz Freitas in Mexico City on 17 June, came on the same night Morales boxed for the first time since their fight, knocking out Mike Juárez in three rounds in Los Angeles.

Then Barrera went up to featherweight to fight Naseem Hamed. They met at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on 7 April 2001. Hamed was 35–0, and Barrera was a 3–1 underdog. The Fight City reported that only two of 30 experts polled on fight night picked him.

The start was held up while Hamed's right glove was rewrapped. Barrera then boxed him. "Barrera stood back and boxed, using his height and reach," Graham Houston wrote in Boxing News. "His left jab was keeping Hamed on the outside." Nobody was knocked down. In the 12th round the referee, Joe Cortez, took a point from Barrera for running Hamed head first into a corner post. It made no difference. The judges scored it 115–112, 115–112 and 116–111, all for Barrera. It was the first defeat of Hamed's career, and the only one.

Barrera had one more fight before the rematch, against Enrique Sánchez in Reno in September 2001. Sánchez retired after six rounds. Barrera was 54–3.

Morales at featherweight

Morales gave up his WBC super-bantamweight title and moved up too. In September 2000 he stopped Kevin Kelley in the seventh round in El Paso to win the interim WBC featherweight title, and in December he knocked out Rodney Jones in one round in Tijuana.

On 17 February 2001, at the MGM Grand, he outpointed Guty Espadas Jr for the full WBC title, 116–112 twice and 115–113. Not everyone agreed with the result. "The decision was in the hands of the judges," Espadas said. "In my heart I know I won." Emanuel Steward, commentating for HBO, was more pointed: "It was bad scoring. He'll never beat Naz the way he keeps going straight back."

Morales outpointed In-Jin Chi at the Staples Center on 28 July 2001, and went into the rematch 41–0.

Houston

Morales had insulted Barrera in an interview, using a homophobic slur. At a press conference in Houston in December 2001, standing next to him, Barrera asked him to say it again. "I waited to see him in person and asked him if he said it," Barrera told the Las Vegas Sun. "He said it again, right in front of me." Barrera hit him with a right hand. The brawl was brief.

It went both ways. Sports Illustrated reported that Barrera "wasn't above calling Morales a 'dumb Indian', which is just about the worst thing you can say of a fellow Mexican." SI described the divide between them: "Morales is from Tijuana, the frontier, while Barrera is from Mexico City, the country's Paris. It's hard to overstate the social distinction."

Barrera told BBC Sport's James Blears what he thought of his rival. "I think he's an excellent boxer and a marvelous champion," he said. "But as a person he's insular, he doesn't think, talks for talking sake, and he's annoyed me greatly by behaving in this ridiculous way."

The fight was set for March 2002 and put back when Barrera hurt a rib. According to SI, he was still so convinced he had been robbed in 2000 that he had to be talked into the rematch with a promise of top billing. He planned to fight Morales the way he had fought Hamed. "I'm a little better fighter than I was for the first fight with Morales," he said.

Mitch Halpern, who had refereed the first fight, had died. The new referee was Jay Nady. Duane Ford was the only judge who had worked both fights. The bout was billed as "For Honor and Pride", and Barrera went in as a slight betting favourite.

The seventh round

They met on 22 June 2002 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, for Morales's WBC featherweight title. "Morales controlled the first half of the fight," Sports Illustrated reported. Barrera spent too much of it at long range, where Morales could work.

Barrera did damage of his own. Morales was cut on the bridge of the nose in the second round, and by the eighth he was cut and swollen over the right eye.

The moment still argued over came in the seventh. Morales landed a right hand to the body and Barrera went down onto one hand. Nady ruled it a slip. The Las Vegas Sun reported that his view was that Morales had been standing on Barrera's foot. "Most observers would have scored Barrera's fall to one hand a knockdown," SI wrote. All three judges gave the round to Barrera, 10–9.

Morales tired as the rounds went on, and in the second half, SI wrote, "Barrera forced himself upon Morales." When the final bell rang, Morales threw his arms in the air. There was very little to separate them. CompuBox counted Barrera landing 207 of 607 punches and Morales 205 of 599. SI wrote that it "was, however, one of those fights in which it was possible to justify any decision".

The decision

The judges gave it to Barrera unanimously: Ford and Mike Glienna had it 115–113, Chuck Giampa 116–112. HBO's unofficial scorer, Harold Lederman, had Morales winning 115–113. According to the Las Vegas Sun, if Nady had called the seventh a knockdown, a 10–8 round would have won Morales the fight, and even a 10–9 round would have made it a draw.

The crowd booed. Morales walked out of the ring when he heard the decision, then, as SI put it, recovered his sportsmanship and came back. It was the first defeat of his career.

"I thought I did enough," Morales said. About the seventh he said: "A legitimate drop." Barrera said: "A slip." "Most important," he said, "I'm going to celebrate with a clean face."

"How can anybody watch boxing anymore?" said Bob Arum, who promoted Morales. Then he turned on the referee. "The refereeing was the worst I've ever seen," he told the Las Vegas Sun. "That knockdown that Nady didn't call was a three-point swing. It was the wrong call. Morales hit him with a good, good body shot and the man went down." Arum did stop short of calling Nady crooked. "I don't think Jay's dishonest or anything like that," he said, "but he missed the knockdown and he never did anything about Barrera's low blows, even though in the dressing room he said he would."

The belt Barrera did not keep

Morales lost the WBC title, but Barrera did not take it. The Las Vegas Sun explained that Barrera was aligned with the WBO, had not paid the WBC's sanctioning fee and so was not entitled to its belt. He did win the vacant Ring magazine featherweight title.

Arum was in no hurry to do it again. "I'm not so anxious to do this again," he said. "Barrera's people want to come right back and fight again and maybe it'll happen, but I'm not thrilled with doing it immediately."

It was one win each. The third fight was more than two years away, and by the time it came, Morales had moved up again and Barrera had been badly beaten by Manny Pacquiao.