The country is more than ready to stage the first defense of Florante Condes’ International Boxing Federation (IBF) minimumweight crown on Oct. 27 in the event the hard-hitting slugger doesn’t get included in the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao-Marco Antonio Barrera rematch on Oct. 6 in Las Vegas.
“The priority right now is for Condes to see action underneath the Pacquiao-Barrera rematch since Manny personally assured Condes, his manager Aljoe Jaro and myself that he will include Condes in the undercard,” Rod Nazario, one of the country’s top promoters said yesterday.
“Nothing comes close to that,” said Nazario, who gave Pacquiao his big break in mid-2001 when he booked the GenSan slugger to see action underneath an Oscar Dela Hoya headliner at the MGM Grand.
Nazario, who has been involved in boxing for five decades, now serves as Condes’ business manager, the same role that he played with Pacquiao from 1995 until 2005.
There will be four televised fights, including the Pacquiao-Barrera bout, that will be held at the Mandalay Bay and Top Rank big boss Bob Arum said that there will be three other TV fights on tap in their joint project with Golden Boy Promotions.
In the event Condes can’t make it in the Pacquiao-Barrera slugfest, Nazario said he will offer Indonesian Muhammad Rachman to come to the Philippines and face Condes in a rematch.
Condes decked Rachman two times last July 7 to capture the IBF 105-lb throne in Jakarta.
If Rachman doesn’t bite, Nazario said there’ll be a lot of other fighters to choose from.
