Barrera wins WBC featherweight title

Marco Antonio Barrera has claimed the WBC featherweight title with a unanimous points win over fellow Mexican Erik Morales in Las Vegas.

It was a case of revenge is sweet for Barrera, who lost a controversial decision to Morales in February 2000, when the pair were WBO and WBC super-bantamweight champions respectively.

On that occasion Morales got the nod despite being floored in the 12th round, but this time Barrera prevailed in a similarly contentious manner by scores of 116-112 and 115-113 twice.

Morales appeared to dictate the pace in the early part of the contest but Barrera came on strong and took five of the last six rounds on the judges’ scorecards.

The winner finished the bout almost unscathed while Morales suffered a bad swelling to his right eye in the latter stages.

Barrera improved his record to 55 wins and three defeats while Morales suffered his first loss in 42 fights.

A third match-up between the pair seems inevitable, although Britain’s Prince Naseem Hamed will also have been an interested observer, having suffered the only loss of his career to Barrera.