LAS VEGAS - "The Baby Faced Assassin" is all grown
up. Now Marco Antonio Barrera has his sights set on adding a
belt to his collection.
Barrera, the WBC super featherweight champion, will attempt to
unify two-thirds of the division title when he takes on IBF
beltholder Robbie Peden in the marquee bout of a stellar card
Saturday at MGM Grand.
In his prolonged career, the 31-year-old Barrera (60-4, 42 KOs)
has held a variety of titles at multiple levels but only
recently has attacked the super featherweights, much to the
chagrin of his fellow combatants.
Barrera, a native of Mexico City who turned pro at the age of
15, won his current title in his first fight as a super
featherweight by scoring a majority decision over Erik Morales
here in November.
That served as a measure of revenge for one of Barrera's four
losses and showed the advancement in weight would not be a
problem. He has extra motivation to claim a second belt, this
time for patriotic reasons.
"It would mean everything to unify the championship for all of
Mexico on Mexican Independence Day," Barrera said. "I feel like
a young prospect again with so much motivation to win this
fight."
Barrera is 5-0 here - including another win over Morales in 2002
for the featherweight crown - and feels he will have plenty of
support the day after his country's independence officially is
celebrated.
"I know the Mexican people stream into Las Vegas for this event
and it will be my honor to fight for them that night," he said.
Peden (25-2, 14 KOs), the second Australian Aboriginal world
boxing champion in the last 34 years, intends on treating
Saturday's clash with a measure of pride in his adopted
homeland.
"Yes I am Australian first and am proud of my Aborigine
background, but I live in America for quite some time," said
Peden, who claimed his IBF crown with an eighth-round TKO of
Nate Campbell in February. "I feel like I'm fighting for America
on the 17th."
Peden can both slug and take punches with the best of them, but
never has been challenged like he will be Saturday. To his
credit, he appears confident, despite entering the weekend a
significant underdog.
"After I beat Barrera, I also will be celebrating Mexican
Independence Day, Australian style."
The winner may have a shot at the survivor of the Morales-Manny
Pacquiao bout in the works. Barrera has won two of three
against Morales but was stopped by Pacquiao in 2003.
If Barrera-Peden fails to live up to its hype, the undercard
should.
In one event, Shane Mosley (40-4, 35 KOs), a three-time champion
and the top-ranked light middleweight, takes on unbeaten Jose
Luis Cruz (32-0-2, 27 KOs).
Mosley dropped back-to-back light middleweight title fights to
Winky Wright last year but is intent on recapturing glory at the
welterweight level, where he reigned supreme from 2000-02.
The 34-year-old Mosley, who scored a unanimous decision over
David Estrada in April in his return as a welterweight, has
flashed an uncanny blend of speed, power and know-how in the
past. The 28-year-old Cruz has never faced such a combination
and will be fighting outside his native Mexico for just the
seventh time.
A late addition to the undercard may present the night's
tightest battle as Levander Johnson (34-4-2, 26 KOs) makes his
first defense of the IBF lightweight title against Jesus Chavez
(41-3, 28 KOs).
Johnson was 0-3 in title fights before scoring a seventh-round
TKO of Stefano Zoff in June. Chavez was a one-time super
featherweight champion before losing the belt to Morales here in
February 2004.