Aggressiveness key to success for Barrera

Dean Juipe

Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2002 | 9:16 a.m.

Having lost his first fight with Erik Morales, featherweight Marco Antonio Barrera used a different tack for the rematch.

He chose to box and not slug with his younger rival, and the result was a decision victory that pleased the winner while proving to be less aesthetically pleasing to the fans.

Now Barrera gets Johnny Tapia -- Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden -- and he knows what worked on Morales may be irrelevant against an opponent with exceptional boxing skills.

"I'm planning to be more aggressive because Tapia is a different fighter," Barrera said during a conference call. "He will be throwing punches from Round 1, so I will have to be more aggressive."

Barrera's promoter, Forum Boxing's John Jackson, agrees.

"I think the fans will get what they want to see, which is two men who are both warriors and who aren't going to back off," he said Monday. "I think Marco knows he has to be prepared because Tapia is a very active fighter."

Barrera, 28, is a fighter who can't be pigeonholed. He has slugged and he has boxed, and it looks as if he'll have to do a little of both against Tapia.

"Marco's probably a little bigger puncher than Tapia, and Tapia probably hasn't been hit as good as Barrera can when he's laying into you," Jackson said. "But if Marco has a fault, it's that he can look inactive in some of his rounds; he can give the impression that he's taking the round off.

"I don't know that he can do that in this fight and win. I think that's why he's got to be more aggressive."

Barrera is a minus 400 betting favorite for a fight that is expected to draw a crowd of almost 8,000.

But 12,709 saw his most recent fight -- the June 22 rematch with Morales -- at the same site. Barrera won that fight by 4, 2 and 2 points on the judges' cards, avenging a decision loss to his Mexican countryman from two years earlier.

"I don't think I was too cautious," Barrera said of his strategic approach in the Morales rematch. "We had a fight plan that we were going to hit but try to get hit from him as little as possible.

"So everything went well."

It went well enough that Barrera added to his reputation and improved to 55-3. But, as Jackson points out, "the rematch wasn't as good a fight for the fans; it just didn't have as much action."

Tapia is 52-2-1.

"I'm putting a lot of work into being in good physical shape, because Tapia is the kind of fighter who will fight from bell to bell," Barrera said. "The best guy in the best shape will win the fight."

Both men know conditioning will be vital.

"I have never fought anyone with that kind of style," Barrera said of Tapia. "He's a warrior; Morales was more calculating.

"Tapia is coming out prepared to exchange blows and I am prepared to fight him."

As has been established, each man has a healthy respect for the other.

"I'm a Tapia fan," Barrera said. "I have a very good relationship with him. He has come to many of my fights and I've watched him on TV.

"(But) all of that will be put aside when the bell rings."