Having just signed Marco Antonio Barrera to a lucrative promotional contract, Oscar De La Hoya thought it was only fitting that Nov. 15, 2003 be marked like a red-letter day.
So the Golden Boy shopped for a suitable foe and stumbled into somebody who had a decent record but who would eventually crumble in the end and make Barrera look superb.
Manny Pacquiao had won three of his four fights since making his American debut in June 2001 and he had everything what the De La Hoya-owned Golden Boy Promotions wanted in an opponent for Barrera, who was at that time was on top of the world.
Pacquiao was young and energetic and had more-than-average knockout power.
Despite victories over Lehlo Ledwaba of South Africa, Jorge Eliecer Julio of Colombia and Emmanuel Lucero of Mexico and a bloody draw with Agapito Sanchez of the Dominican Republic, Pacquiao was perceived to be still not near the caliber of Barrera.
When the contracts were signed for the 12-round featherweight bout at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, Barrera was coming off eight straight wins, two of them against Erik Morales of Mexico and Naseem Hamed of England.
(The Bulletin was the only Philippine-based broadsheet that covered the Pacquiao-Barrera bout in San Antonio although this writer, who was at ringside in all of Pacquiao?s 15 US fights, including the recent De La Hoya bout, had covered Pacquiao?s first fight on US soil for another paper in June 2001.)
Barrera was heavily-favored to repulse Pacquiao?s challenge that he was a 4-1 betting favorite and the talk among fight aficionados was not how the fight will turn out but in what round Barrera will administer the coup d grace.
At the arena, most of the 10,000-plus in attendance were rooting for Barrera and not even the hoarse cries of a small portion of pro-Pacquiao supporters could drown the avalanche of Barrera screams from the Mexican-Americans who were on hand to witness an execution.
After a brief scare in the first round ? when Pacquiao lost his balance and fell on the floor butt-first ? it was Pacquiao all the way as the underdog danced away from Barrera?s line of fire and peppered his foes with crackling shots to the head and body until one of his brothers came up the ring to signal to referee Laurence Cole that they?d seen enough.
Unlike in the runup to the fight when the venue was filled with sounds of encouragement from Barrera fans, the once-boisterous crowd turned silent as though everything that had just taken place was unreal.
Over at the corner of Pacquiao, there was wild rejoicing among his cornermen and several meters away in an area near the press section, Pacquiao?s then business manager Rod Nazario was either exchanging high-fives or hugging Pacquiao supporters.
Pacquiao?s victory over Barrera opened the doors even further for him as it paved the way for big-money clashes with Juan Manuel Marquez (twice), Morales (three times), a rematch with Barrera in late-2007, and surprisingly-easy outings against David Diaz and De La Hoya. He also dueled with Fahsan 3K Battery of Thailand, Hector Velasquez and Oscar Larios and Jorge Solis of Mexico.
Pacquiao was paid $ 500,000 for the Barrera bout although there were reports that he was actually given $ 700,000.
Regardless of how much exactly was given, Pacquiao apparently doesn?t care that much anymore since the difference is just a drop in the bucket considering that he now earns eight-figure purses.
But when he looks back one day, Pacquiao will give the first Barrera fight much thought since it was in that fight that fans actually started to take him seriously.
