LOS ANGELES-The think-tank of Marco Antonio Barrera would want to see Manny Pacquiao win over Erik Morales so that nothing will get in the way for a mega-rematch between the past and current featherweight People’s Champion by year-end.
Roberto Diaz, right hand man of Barrera, even went as far as relaying pointers and fight plans on how Pacquiao, the current People?s Champ, could duplicate what Barrera did last year when he beat Morales in their rubber-match.
“We want to see Barrera-Pacquiao II or even Barrera-Pacquiao III. We no longer want Barrera-Morales IV,” added Diaz, who also confirmed reports that Barrera will fight Mzonke Fana on April 9 in El Paso, Texas.
Barrera went up in weight and went on to take Morales’s WBC super-featherweight belt last year. Barrera will defend his new title against Fana, who earned the right to become mandatory challenger when he beat Randy Suico of the Philippines in an eliminator match.
“My heart wants to see Manny win over Morales. I think a rematch with Pacquiao will be as big as Barrera-Morales III,” said Diaz, who also revealed that Barrera has began training in Mexico City. The rematch hinges on whether Barrera can hurdle the challenge of the dangerous African.
“We want to finish it once and for all,” added Diaz, saying that Barrera is aching to avenge the one-sided loss he suffered at the hands of the General Santos buzz-saw.
The Barrera-Fana title match will be announced this Saturday in a press conference before the much-awaited Bernard Hopkins-Howard Eastman bout.
Pacquiao and Barrera might even get a chance to meet on Saturday when they will be at ringside for the Hopkins-Eastman middleweight championship at the Staples Center here.
Meanwhile, Pacquiao continued to reach peak form, almost knocking down Ugandan Justin Juuko with a mean left straight right in the first round of sparring. Juuko was retired by chief trainer Freddie Roach after one more round.
Pacquiao also went on the verge of dropping his second sparring partner Raymundo Beltran but restrained himself from doing further damage.
Pacquiao sparred for three more rounds with IBF super-bantamweight champion Israel Vasquez and said that he is feeling good about his chances against Morales, a three-time world champion.
Orlando Salido, who lost in his bid to snatch the WBA/IBF featherweight belt from Juan Manuel Marquez, was a no-show Tuesday. He was supposed to provide depth in the sparring pool for Pacquiao.
The 26-year-old Pacquiao was elated to hear about Camp Barrera’s relayed message and will consider using the fight plan against Morales, aside from Team Pacquiao?s no-nonsense preparations.
