Barrera Is Focused but Has Bigger Plans

For Marco Antonio Barrera, this is only a tuneup.

With his big victory over Erik Morales in their rubber match last November behind him, and plans for more big-name opponents ahead, Barrera has come to this border town for what figures to be a chance to keep his skills sharp.

Barrera won’t concede that, pointing out that, in facing Mzonke Fana of Cape Town, South Africa, at the Don Haskins Center tonight, he will be defending the World Boxing Council super-featherweight title he won from Morales against the No. 1 contender.

“I didn’t pick Fana,” Barrera said. “The WBC imposed him on me.”

True enough. But though Fana has a 22-2 record with eight knockouts, Barrera would be hard-pressed to name many of Fana’s opponents.

Ahead for Barrera (59-4, 41) could be a fourth lucrative fight against Morales, a rematch against Manny Pacquiao, who upset Barrera in 2003, or even a second fight against Naseem Hamed, should Hamed ever emerge from the seclusion into which Barrera sent him in 2001. So how excited can Barrera be about fighting Fana?

“The fact is, Barrera doesn’t really know who Fana is,” said Oscar De La Hoya, Barrera’s promoter. “Because of that, he’s telling me that he sees this fight as an even bigger threat than a fighter he knows, like an Erik Morales.... From the videos he saw, he feels Fana is a game opponent, so he wanted to make sure he was very focused.”

Focus does not figure to be a problem for the 31-year-old Fana. This is no tuneup for him. “This is my chance to see my dreams come true,” he said. “This is my time.”

If so, it has been a long time coming. Fana first walked into a gym 19 years ago, not to fight, but to accompany a classmate.

Coaxed into putting on the gloves, Fana got in the ring, long pants and all -- he’d worn his school uniform to the gym -- and was hooked.

There were some setbacks. He almost quit after losing his first amateur bout at 13 but returned to the ring to stay at 18.

Fana has fought outside his homeland only once in a professional career that stretches to 1994, going to Coventry, England. It was not a joyous trip; Fana lost by unanimous decision to Deal Pithie in 1999.

He says he is confident that this trip will result in his first bona fide world title.

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Also on tonight’s card, Ivan Hernandez (20-0-1, 13) defends his World Boxing Organization super-flyweight title against Fernando Montiel (29-1-1, 23).