LAS VEGAS The fight went almost exactly as Marco Barrera
and his corner planned.
The fighter from Mexico City, taking advantage of his opponent's unorthodox style, constantly landed straight shots to the head on his way to a unanimous 12-round decision over Prince Naseem Hamed in their featherweight bout Saturday night.
"My people prepared me well. We didn't want to charge him and
get careless," said Barrera, who at 5-foot-7 is 4 inches taller
than Hamed and often was able to keep him at arms' length.
"I was never hurt. He didn't hit as hard as people have said."
There were no knockdowns in the non-title bout, but Barrera, moving up from super bantamweight to 126 pounds, dominated most of the way.
He rocked the previously unbeaten Hamed twice in the first round, buckled his knees in the fourth, then had him wobbly at the finish.
Each time he was in trouble, however, Hamed was able to either
move away or clinch before Barrera could finish him.
"He was the pure winner of this fight," Hamed said. "The guy
fought better than I did, and that's it, plain and simple.
"But I'll be back. I hope I'm going to get a rematch."
Barrera improved to 53-3, with 38 knockouts. Hamed, from Sheffield, England, is 35-1, with 31 knockouts.
Barrera, who noted before the bout that he had more knockouts
than Hamed had fights, shrewdly exploited his edge in experience
and the lack of defense by Hamed, who held his hands at waist level
most of the fight.
Judges Duane Ford and Patricia Jarman-Manning each scored it
115-112 for Barrera, and Chuck Giampa gave him the nod 116-111.
There also was a bit of wrestling, with Barrera taking Hamed
down to the canvas in the second round, then putting a sort of full
nelson on him and slamming his face into the corner in the 12th.
Barrera had a point taken away for the incident in the last round.
Although Barrera was never in trouble, his nose was puffy and
bleeding mildly by the third round, apparently the result of a
right jab thrown by Hamed. But in the fourth, the Mexican fighter
rocked Hamed again, landing a left hook that buckled Hamed's knees
momentarily.
Barrera stunned Hamed twice in the opening round, the first time
about 1½ minutes into the round and the second time just before the
bell.
There was a gap of more than an hour between the end of the last prelim and the start of the featured bout because most of the fights on the undercard ended in quick knockouts.
Hamed also caused a short delay when, displeased with the way
his right hand was wrapped, had the glove removed and the hand
rewrapped. Then his elaborate entrance took another eight minutes.
Known for his flashy entrances, Hamed first stood high in the MGM Grand arena, fireworks spewing around him, then was lowered to the arena floor in a sort of trapeze.
He wore his usual leopardskin-patterned trunks and matching shoes.
By contrast, Barrera wore blue and silver trunks and strode
rather quickly up the aisle and over the ropes.
On the undercard, U.S. Olympic bronze-medal winners Jermain
Taylor and Clarence Vinson both won their four-rounders.
Taylor (2-0, two knockouts) stopped Kenny Stubbs at 3:28 of the
second round of their middleweight match. Vinson (2-0) won his
second by decision, outpointing Bryan Garcia in their bantamweight
bout.
Michael Bennett, the 2000 amateur world champion, stopped Billy
Zumbrun at 2:49 of the first round in their heavyweight bout also
scheduled for four rounds. Bennett has stopped all three of his
foes as a pro.
In a super middleweight match scheduled for 10 rounds, Omar
Sheika stopped Stephan Ouellet at 1:46 of the second round.