Mexico is home to some of the greatest fighters to have graced the sport of boxing, and now three-division world champion Marco Antonio Barrera has shared his list of the top five Mexican fighters of all time.
Barrera won his first 43 fights before a duo of defeats to Junior Jones cost him both his undefeated record and WBO super-bantamweight world title, causing him to temporarily retire from boxing.
‘The Baby-Faced Assassin’ then decided to return and scored iconic wins over the likes of Erik Morales and ‘Prince’ Naseem Hamed to further his legacy, claiming world honours at both featherweight and super-featherweight.
Despite those achievements, Barrera refused to include himself in his list of Mexico’s top five fighters, telling Behind The Ropes Boxing who he has ahead of him in terms of greatness.
“Number one is [Julio Cesar] Chavez, two Salvador Sanchez, three Ricardo Lopez, four Juan Manuel Marquez, five Canelo.”
Canelo is one of five Mexicans to have ruled in four weight divisions and is looking to regain the super-middleweight throne when he takes on Christian Mbilli in October.
Meanwhile, Juan Manuel Marquez was the only other quadruple champion included on Barrera’s list, with Marquez having accelerated through the weight divisions after capturing his first world title in his 42nd pro bout.
Julio Cesar Chavez and Salvador Sánchez are almost universally accepted as Mexico’s top two, with Chavez having been unbeaten in his first 90 contests, whilst Sanchez is considered to be one of boxing’s greatest ‘what-if’s’, tragically passing away at the age of 23 whilst on course to become a superstar.
Lastly is the inclusion of Ricardo ‘Finito’ López, who retired undefeated after 52 fights, recognised by the masses as the best to have ever graced the minimumweight division, having defended the WBC world title on 21 consecutive occasions during the 1990’s.
