Oscar De La Hoya believes Marco Antonio Barrera is ready for another crack at Manny Pacquiao as the pair prepare for their super featherweight clash on October 6.
Barrera is gunning for revenge for an 11th round stoppage defeat against his opponent back in 2003 and De La Hoya is confident his fighter is ready for the rematch despite losing his WBC world title to Juan Manuel Marquez in his last fight back in March.
The promoter points to his boxer’s ability to rise to the occasion as being a key factor.
“Barrera is in tremendous shape. He has prepared for this fight the same way he did for Naseem Hamed and Erik Morales,” De La Hoya said.
“In both of those fights he went in as underdog and came out the winner.
“There is no other fighter our there who get up for big fights quite like Marco Antonio Barrera. The question is can he turn the clock back again?”
De La Hoya also feels Pacquiao may not have had the ideal preparation for this bout.
“Has Manny been distracted just like Barrera was the the first time around?” he asked.
“He is running for congress in the Philipines, and getting his own TV show is also a potential distraction. Can Manny handle that? These are some of the questions he is going to have to answer on October 6.”
