For six months after his stunning conquest of Marco Antonio Barrera at the Alamodome in 2003, Manny Pacquiao was the talk of boxing. The hot commodity. The next big thing.
“That definitely was the best performance of his career,” Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach, said in a conference call Tuesday. “He fought a perfect fight that night.”
Since the demolition of Barrera in San Antonio, however, Pacquiao has been anything but perfect. The Philippine southpaw is a very ordinary 1-1-1 in his past three fights.
Pacquiao (39-3-2, 31 KOs) is scheduled to oppose Mexico’s Hector Velazquez (42-10-2, 31 KOs) on Sept. 10 at Staples Center in Los Angeles.
It’s part of a “Double Trouble” doubleheader, to be televised on HBO, that will pit Erik Morales (48-2, 34 KOs) against 1996 Olympian Zahir Raheem (26-1, 18 KOs) in the other matchup.
While Manny Mania may be a thing of the past, Roach said expectations — his expectations — of Pacquiao have never wavered. Roach said his goal is to get Pacquiao back to being the complete fighter he was against Barrera.
“I expect Manny to perform like he did against Barrera every time he fights,” Roach said.
Many expect him to do just that against Velazquez, a tough veteran who is durable and solid but who shouldn’t pose much of a threat for the Filipino. Which is exactly what has Roach worried.
Pacquiao must defeat Velazquez and Morales must beat Raheem to set up a pay-per-view rematch in December. Morales defeated Pacquiao in a close decision in March at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
“We know there’s no rematch unless we beat Velazquez,” Roach said. “Manny is focused for this fight.”
Pacquiao said he’s not taking Velazquez lightly. He also said he is free of the uncertainty that swirled around his camp for the Morales fight.
Pacquiao charged that his promoter at the time, Murad Muhammad, and former manager, Rod Nazario, conspired to steal money from his purses.
Testimony in a lawsuit filed by Pacquiao alleged that Muhammad and Nazario received $650,000, more than their contracted share of Pacquiao’s $1 million purse for the Barrera fight.
In late June, Pacquiao reportedly agreed to an $800,000 settlement that freed him from any obligation to either Muhammad or Nazario.
Pacquiao now is being promoted by Gary Shaw.
“There are no distractions for this fight,” Pacquiao said. “So it is easy to stay focused.”
