MARCO ANTONIO BARRERA vs ADAILTON DE JESUS

In March, Erik Morales launched a comeback, and on Saturday another great Mexican fighter, Morales's old rival Marco Antonio Barrera, returns to the ring on Saturday’s PPV show from San Antonio.

Barrera, 35, says he wants to become the first Mexican boxer to win world titles in four weight divisions. He was an outstanding champion at 122, 126 and 130 pounds. Saturday’s 10-rounder against the Brazilian, Adailton De Jesus, was made at 138 pounds, but Barrera came in three pounds over the limit. De Jesus, who came in at 138, received financial compensation for giving away weight.

I must admit I will be curious to see how much Barrera has left. This is his first bout since he suffered a severely cut scalp and lost on a technical decision to Amir Khan in Britain 15 months ago. Khan made Barrera look old and slow, but given the British boxer’s youth and speed this was to be expected. On Saturday, Barrera meets a veteran in the 31-year-old De Jesus, who has been boxing professionally for eight and a half years.

De Jesus has been seen on American TV a few times. He looked like a sharp, competent boxer when he comfortably outpointed Mexico’s Noe Bolanos, who was unbeaten at the time, on Telefutura in March 2007. Two months later, however, on ESPN’s old Wednesday Night Fights series, De Jesus lost a unanimous decision to the undefeated local fighter Marcos Ramirez in Kansas City although ESPN’s Teddy Atlas had the Brazilian winning the fight.

It seemed to me that Ramirez, although not known as a very hard hitter, wobbled De Jesus in the second and eighth rounds. I made the note that De Jesus “could be a bit chinny”.

De Jesus was outclassed by Yuriorkis Gamboa, who was having only his seventh professional bout, in October 2007, on a show televised on a delayed basis on U.S. cable systems. I made the note that the Cuban Olympic gold medallist showed “utter disdain” for De Jesus in winning on a sixth-round stoppage. It is true that Gamboa took an eight count in that bout, but it appeared to me that he simply stumbled although De Jesus did land a nothing-much left hook to the body.

Clearly, De Jesus is not being brought into Texas to derail Barrera’s comeback. This is a fight that Barrera should win, and I think the main interest will be in how he looks at his age and after the longest layoff of his career.

De Jesus doesn’t strike me as being what the boxing trade calls a “runner”. Barrera should be able to catch him with shots, and, despite the advancing years, I would think that Barrera can still hurt anyone he can hit.

If De Jesus was outclassed and overwhelmed by a six-fight Yuriorkis Gambia, then I would think that even an older, slower Barrera should be able to wear the Brazilian boxer down and eventually get him out of the fight.

De Jesus’s 27-second knockout defeat against the local fighter Oscar Pereyra in Santa Fe, Argentina last August had me wondering how well he takes a punch these days, even though Pereyra seems to be a boxer who is especially dangerous early in a bout.

As Barrera has always been a methodical type who goes about his work in a patient, steady way, it is extremely unlikely that he will win quickly on Saturday — especially when one considers his inactivity. However, I have a feeling that Barrera might be able to find the range and start hitting De Jesus somewhat consistently by the middle part of the bout. I am expecting a stoppage win by Barrera somewhere between the sixth and ninth rounds.