On a Zoom call this week, Marco Antonio Barrera did not look like someone about to get into a fistfight on Saturday night.

“It's an exhibition, and we're also not dealing with weight, so I'm pretty relaxed,” laughed the Hall of Famer, who will travel to the Inn of the Mountain Gods Resort & Casino in Mescalero, New Mexico to face Daniel Ponce de Leon in an exhibition bout that headlines a card presented by Teresa Tapia in the state her late husband Johnny put on the boxing map during his storied career. In fact, it was when Teresa contacted Barrera that he decided to lace the gloves up again at 47.

“What really motivated me was when Teresa Tapia reached out to me and asked me if I could help out the Johnny Tapia Foundation, that really inspired me to do this exhibition fight,” said Barrera, who also engaged in a similar bout with Jesus Soto Karass in June. And like that one, Barrera and Ponce de Leon won’t be trying to annihilate each other this weekend, but with punches still being thrown, there’s always those butterflies in the stomach.

“Those butterflies are called fear,” he said. “Every boxer feels them before getting into the ring. I feel them but it's just gonna be a great fight. There's gonna be some punches that are gonna hit us, but besides that I'm pretty excited.”

If you’re thinking that this is the start of a comeback for the “Baby Faced Assassin,” think again. Life is good for the former three-division world champion, who does commentary work and has his own podcast and YouTube channel, both entitled Un Round Mas (One More Round).

His co-host on the podcast? His most bitter rival, Erik Morales. It’s the most unlikely pairing ever, but it works, even if the two were close to having their own exhibition match.

“It was very close to happening,” said Barrera. “We were already signing the contracts, but Morales got COVID two times, then he injured his knee and there was something with his back. There were a lot of excuses, so we ended up dropping it, but hopefully it ends up happening. And if it ends up happening, it will probably be next year.”

Is it a good guess to assume that their fourth meeting won’t be an exhibition?

“Yeah, I don't think it's gonna be an exhibition fight,” Barrera laughs.

And though these exhibitions aren’t the prelude to a comeback, it’s clear that in the nearly 11 years since his last official bout against Jose Arias in 2011, the Mexican icon still misses the ring.

“I miss a lot of things,” he said. “Just walking from the dressing room to the ring, the people, the music, hearing the crowd cheering. That's something that you just can't get over, and I'll be missing that for the rest of my life.”

I thought he missed the interviews. 

Barrera laughs.

“It was different back then because when I would do interviews, I had to cut weight, I was in a bad mood, and I just wanted to be left alone. But now it's different. I'm on the other side - I have a podcast where we have to put on a smile and go and interview people instead of being the one interviewed.”

Life takes some funny turns, for sure, and I’m sure Barrera didn’t expect to be closing in on 50 and still be training for a fight. But as he points out, getting ready for Ponce de Leon isn’t like getting ready for Morales.

“I'm not training as hard as I did when I was actually fighting,” he said. “I've just done sparring two times, which I'm still kind of sore from. (Laughs) We used to do the test sparring, which is 12 rounds a day, and we don't do that, so it's a little bit more relaxed.”

So is Barrera, always a cool customer, but now cool and relaxed. And happy, not just to still be around the sport, but to be able to participate in a way with his 19-year-old son, Marco Jr., who handled translation duties like a pro before getting ready to be in dad’s corner on Saturday.

“It's really different from what I was expecting to be going on,” said Marco Jr. of the funny turn his own life took. “I was supposed to be going to college. I was leaving a couple months ago, but everything came on with the exhibitions and all the projects and I decided to stay beside my dad and help him out. I've always been there and I've always been the guy to set up interviews and set up meetings and signings. I think we both need each other. I see his work ethic, I see how he manages people, I learned a lot from that, and I'm really excited to see him back in the ring because when he had his exhibition with Soto-Karass I wasn't able to be there because I had my high school graduation. But now it's a little different. I'll be in his corner, I've been with him every step of the way, and I'm just real excited to see him back.”

Not as excited as dad is to have his son with him for the ride.

“It fills me up with joy knowing that he's going to be next to me, walking from the dressing room to the ring,” said Barrera. “He's gonna be in my corner, and it's going to be completely different to what he witnessed as a child. As a kid, he wanted to go to the bathroom because he was nervous, and he didn't want to see me. (Laughs) Now it's completely different, so it's going to be amazing, especially since he's been my partner in projects coming up. It's a very different experience, but I'm really happy and I'm also pretty nervous about it.”

Some things in a boxer’s life never change.