BOXING WITH THE BEST BARRERA EARNING SPOT IN MEXICO.

Byline: Robert Morales Staff Writer

Emanuel Steward was in the Pennsylvania Poconos on Tuesday, preparing to train Wladimir Klitschko for his upcoming fight with Samuel Peter. But he wasn't going to start without first talking about the man who has become one of his favorite fighters.

Steward, a legendary Hall of Fame trainer, wanted to talk about Marco Antonio Barrera, who is becoming one of Mexico's legendary fighters.

The question was put to Steward: Does Mexico City's Barrera, with all of his accomplishments, belong in the same class as Julio Cesar Chavez and Salvador Sanchez? Those are usually the first two names when talking about Mexico's all-time great prize fighters.

Barrera, 31, has won world titles in the super bantamweight, featherweight and super featherweight divisions. He is 60-4 with 42 knockouts and 18-3 in world title fights.

Ruben Olivares is another name mentioned, and sometimes Ricardo Lopez is thrown into the mix of Mexicans who are icons in their country.

Steward believes Barrera, who fights Robbie Peden on Saturday in a super featherweight title unification bout in Las Vegas, belongs with Chavez and Sanchez.

``Yes, I definitely think so,'' Steward said. ``When you look at, first of all, the long run he has had. I always look at greatness as being on top for a long period of time. Anyone can have that quick run.

``Him being on top for a 10-year span is impressive.''

Steward was just getting started. He said he pays little mind to Barrera's 11th-round knockout loss to Manny Pacquiao in November 2003.

Barrera, Steward said, was an emotional wreck at the time. He had trouble with his management, dealt with brain surgery in 1997, and had to evacuate his camp in Big Bear because of a forest fire.

Bottom line, Steward said, is that every time Barrera has lost, he has come back to win big. He lost super bantamweight title fights to Junior Jones in 1996 and 1997, but came back to win championships in two more divisions - featherweight and super featherweight.

After a loss to Erik Morales in their first fight in February 2000, Barrera won the next two fights in the trilogy. Barrera, nicknamed ``Baby Face Assassin,'' has won three consecutive since his loss to Pacquiao. Included was a victory over Morales last November to win the World Boxing Council super featherweight championship.

Barrera is also the fighter who shut up cocky Prince Naseem Hamed. Barrera won a unanimous decision over Hamed in April 2001. Hamed came in 35-0 and had been knocking out just about everybody. Steward worked Hamed's corner.

``Look at how he destroyed Hamed,'' Steward said. ``He can throw 20 punches, never lose his balance, have total focus and never change his breathing. He keeps coming back and has become a legendary fighter.

``He has to be considered one of the great Mexican fighters. He's just gotten to be an animal.''

Chavez, who is 43 and still fighting, is 108-5-2 with 87 knockouts. He, too, has won world titles in three divisions and is 34-1-1 in championship bouts.

Sanchez, who was killed in an auto accident at age 23 in 1982, was 41-1-1 with 32 knockouts and 10-0 in title fights.

Olivares, if anyone, doesn't seem to belong in the group of Chavez, Barrera and Sanchez. Numbers can be deceiving, but Olivares was only 8-5 in championship fights. He did go 88-13-3 with 78 knockouts and won titles in the bantamweight and featherweight divisions.

``The guy's career is not over yet,'' Chavez said of Barrera from his training camp in Tucson, Ariz. ``So we don't know where he is going to end up. But right now I wouldn't put him with Sanchez or Lopez. Not yet.''

As complimentary as Steward was, Sherman Oaks' Dan Goossen stopped well short of putting Barrera in the same class as Chavez, Sanchez or Olivares, for that matter.

``No one can be put on that pedestal,'' Goossen, who promotes Peden, said in reference to Chavez. ``Marco certainly has done a great job and he is considered one of the great champions.

``But unlike Chavez, he hasn't had that staying power. You think of the greatest, especially Mexican champions, and Marco doesn't come to your mind right off the bat. It is Julio Cesar Chavez, Salvador Sanchez, Ruben Olivares.''

His promoter, Oscar De La Hoya, made no bones about where Barrera stands.

``He has done more than enough to solidify his legacy,'' De La Hoya said. ``I rank him in the top 3 of the all-time greats of Mexico. Not only because he has faced all these adversities, these opponents, these obstacles, but when he has a defeat, he always comes back and rises to the occasion.

``He gets down, but not out. I place him in the top 3, but his career is not over. He will have more fights that will solidify him as the greatest fighter ever from Mexico.''

Robert Morales, [phone], Ext. 2213

robert.morales(at)sgvn.com

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(color) Many think two-time champ Marco Antonio Barrera is one of Mexico's greatest fighters.

Al Bello/Getty Images

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