WHETHER it is held in Manila or in the United States, Filipino boxing idol Manny Pacquiao will definitely leave the country in the first week of September to begin training for a rematch against Mexico?s Marco Antonio Barrera, according to business manager Rod Nazario.
?Manny will head back to California to begin his training with American trainer Freddie Roach in early September. Whatever happens to the [site of the] rematch, he will be preparing for his rematch against Barrera in the US,? Nazario said on Monday.
Nazario said he recently talked in an overseas phone call with American promoter Murad Mu?ham?mad, who was informed by executives of US cable TV giant Home Box Office that the Pac?quiao-Barrera rematch would be either in late October or early November.
?So leaving for the US in September will give Pacquiao at least two months to prepare for his next fight. I believe this is sufficient time for him to train against Barrera,? Nazario said.
He disclosed that besides Manny and his trainer, Buboy Fernandez, tagging along will be Pacquiao?s younger brother, Bobby, who retained his RP super featherweight crown last week by unanimous decision against arch rival Baby Lorona Jr.
?We?ll see how Bobby fares in the States,? said Nazario, who seems bent on following the success formula he had with ?PacMan? with the younger Pacquiao sibling.
Nazario paved Manny?s path to ring glory in the US by setting him up with small fights until the Filipino barged into the world boxing limelight in 2001 by stopping South African Lehlo Ledwaba in six rounds to wrest the International Boxing Federation junior featherweight crown.
Although several local Filipino financiers have expressed keen interest in bankrolling the return bout between Pacquiao and Barrera in Manila, Nazario said it would still be best for his charge to tune up overseas ?regardless where his next fight is.?
Nazario noted earlier that Pacquiao, who has been appearing in local TV shows and other engagements one after the other, would have ?less distractions? in the US training under the no-nonsense Roach.
Pacquiao recently returned with wife Jinkee from Bangkok, Thailand, where the couple appeared in a reality TV show that was telecast by a big local network.
Away from the ring, Pacquiao was reportedly devoting most of his time on the billiards table, losing a lot of money on games against pool sharks.
?I have already warned him about his habit. I told him that I would not like to see him winding up like Rolando Navarrette,? said Nazario, referring to the former world-boxing champion who lost everything because of his loose lifestyle.
Known as the ?Bad Boy of Dadiangas,? Navarrette, who was a former IBF junior lightweight champion, ended up virtually penniless after spending most of his ring earnings on vices.
