Once and for all: Barrera wins the third fight with Morales

After the rematch in June 2002 it was one win each. The third fight took two and a half years to arrive, and by the time it did, Barrera had been stopped by Manny Pacquiao and both men had moved up to super-featherweight.

Barrera and Pacquiao

Barrera went on defending his featherweight title. In November 2002 he outpointed Johnny Tapia at the MGM Grand, 118–110, 118–110 and 116–112. "He is just a gentleman that I respect," Tapia said afterwards. "He is a hell of a fighter, a great world champion." In April 2003 he stopped Kevin Kelley in the fourth round, and said he would try to make a third fight with Morales.

Instead he fought Pacquiao, at the Alamodome in San Antonio on 15 November 2003. Barrera was a 4–1 favourite. His preparation had not gone well. A fire forced him out of his training camp at Big Bear, in California, and before the fight it became public that he had had surgery in 1997 for malformed blood vessels in his head, which had been kept from boxing officials.

Pacquiao dropped him with a straight left in the third round and again in the 11th, and Barrera's corner stepped in. Pacquiao was ahead 97–90, 97–90 and 97–89. "Tonight wasn't my night; there were a lot of distractions before this fight," Barrera told HBO's Larry Merchant. "He punches hard and he's a great fighter, I couldn't see a lot of things."

He came back in June 2004 and stopped Paulie Ayala in the tenth round in Carson, California. Then he signed for Morales, at 130 pounds.

Morales moves up

Morales had got straight back to winning. In November 2002 he beat Ayala on points for the vacant WBC featherweight title, and in 2003 he beat Eddie Croft and Fernando Velárdez. Before the Velárdez fight he talked about moving on. "I'm ready for something else," he said. "I don't have a grudge or anything with Barrera. If we don't fight again, I'm going to 130."

In October 2003 he knocked out Guty Espadas Jr in three rounds, then gave up the featherweight title and went up to super-featherweight. On 28 February 2004, at the MGM Grand, he took the WBC title from Jesús Chávez. Chávez rocked him early in the first round, and Morales put him down twice in the second before winning a unanimous decision.

In July 2004 he outpointed the IBF champion, Carlos Hernández, 119–109, 119–109 and 115–113. "This may be the best fight Morales ever fought," Hernández said, "and the best fight I've ever fought." In September the IBF stripped Morales for refusing to fight his mandatory challenger, so only the WBC belt would be at stake against Barrera.

He was 28, and 47–1. Barrera was 30, and 58–4.

Once and for all

The fight was billed as "Once and for All". It was at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on 27 November 2004, for Morales's WBC super-featherweight title. Morales was the favourite. He weighed 130lb and Barrera 129½. Barrera was now promoted by Oscar De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions and Morales was still with Arum's Top Rank. "Mexican fighters have shown again and again that we're the ones who give it all in the ring," Morales said beforehand.

The crowd was 11,162. The Associated Press thought it seemed split between the two.

Barrera started fast and bloodied Morales's nose in the second round. He won most of the first six rounds, beating Morales to the punch and switching between head and body, while Morales could not get his jab going. In a clinch in the ninth Barrera landed late rights to the back of Morales's head. He held out a glove to apologise, and Morales ignored it.

Morales came back in the second half. On two of the judges' cards he won four of the last six rounds. His nose was bleeding and his right eye was swelling shut, but in the 11th and 12th they stood and traded. "They'll savagely trade until the final bell!" said HBO's Jim Lampley on commentary. "My God what a fight! ... What these two guys have given to the sport can't be quantified." The AP's Tim Dahlberg called it "a wild slugfest that was every bit the equal of the classic battle the two fought four years ago". Nobody was knocked down.

The decision

Two of the judges scored it for Barrera, Jerry Roth 115–113 and Larry O'Connell 115–114. Paul Smith had it level at 114–114. Barrera had a majority decision.

The AP scored it a draw. The Las Vegas Sun had Barrera winning 116–112, but wrote that several rounds "were so close they justifiably could have been awarded to either fighter". CompuBox counted Barrera landing 290 of 765 punches and Morales 231 of 808.

When the decision was read, Barrera held up two fingers at Morales. According to the AP, Morales "stared in disbelief". Arum said Top Rank might protest, because O'Connell had scored the 11th round 10–10. A 10–9 round for Morales on that card would have made it a majority draw.

"It's an honor to put Mexico on top again," Barrera said. "To give a great trilogy, to give three great fights in Las Vegas, is just a great honor." He said he had prepared for the fight by working on his uppercuts. He also claimed that "Morales threw water in my father's face after the fight. He's lacking a bit of education."

"This was not the result we were looking for, but I think we did a good fight," Morales said. He also said: "When you lose, you lose. My body didn't respond the way it is supposed to." At the news conference, De La Hoya was translating for Barrera. He told the room Barrera wanted to show that Golden Boy was better than Top Rank. When Arum objected, De La Hoya said: "I'm just translating."

The win made Barrera a world champion at three weights. The Ring named it the Fight of the Year for 2004, as it had the first fight in 2000, and the 11th was its Round of the Year. Across three fights and nearly five years, they had boxed 36 rounds, and Barrera won the series two to one.

What came after

Barrera kept the WBC title until March 2007, adding the IBF belt against Robbie Peden in 2005. He lost the WBC title to Juan Manuel Márquez, and in October 2007 he lost a rematch with Pacquiao on points. He came back under Don King, losing to Amir Khan in Manchester in 2009 on a fifth-round technical decision after a cut from a head clash. He boxed for the last time in February 2011 and finished 67–7.

Morales beat Pacquiao on points in March 2005. When Merchant asked him why he had chosen to brawl in the last round, he said: "Did you enjoy it? That's why." Pacquiao stopped him in their next two fights, in January and November 2006. The January fight was the first time Morales had ever been stopped. "I was a beaten man tonight," he said after the third. "He was faster and stronger and I did everything I could but Manny was just too good for me." He lost to David Díaz in 2007 and retired. He came back in 2010, and in September 2011 he won the vacant WBC light-welterweight title when Pablo César Cano's corner pulled him out after ten rounds with a bad cut. Cano was a late, unrated substitute, and the title was questioned, but it made Morales the first Mexican-born fighter to win world titles at four weights. He retired for good in 2014, at 52–9.

Both went into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility, Barrera in 2017 and Morales in 2018. By then they had made peace. In August 2017 Barrera was due to present Morales at his induction into the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame. "The fights are in the past," Morales said that summer. "It took some time to get over the hate. We had a good time together. Getting to fly together to London and Europe. We've made peace."

By 2021 they were hosting a boxing podcast together, Un Round Más. In June 2024 they were due back in Canastota together for the Hall of Fame's 35th anniversary weekend.