San Francisco, CA-Now that the IBF lightweight championship showdown between Champion, Jesus Chavez, and challenger, Marco Antonio Barrera is off, it opens the door for Manny Pacquiao to have a career year in 2006. Pacquiao, still fresh off a sensational stoppage over Erik Morales, is planned to face off to former WBC 122 lb. king Oscar Larios in May. Should Pacquiao win, he’ll move on to the rubber match against Erik Morales. With Barrera now without an opponent, Pacquiao can step in and set up the biggest fight boxing can make as soon as this summer.
LARIOS: A BOXING FAN’S FIGHTER!
With Pacquiao building a strong mainstream popularity base, a victory over Larios would only satisfy the hardcore boxing audience. Larios’ last fight was an upset stoppage loss in a rubber match against Israel Vasquez. In that fight, Larios was dropped in the first round and eventually loss due to a nasty cut, which was caused by a punch, even though he came back, and won the second round. To the hardcore boxing fan, Larios is the toughest opponent Pacquiao will face whose name is not Barrera, Morales, or Juan Manuel Marquez. However, to the mainstream fan, who will now tune in to see Pacquiao, they may see Larios has a shot fighter, who was TKO’d in just 3 rounds at eight pounds lighter at 122.
GETS NO BIGGER THAN PACMAN FOR BARRERA!
One of the biggest reasons Marco Antonio Barrera challenged for a lightweight title was to regain interest in his career, which was something he lacked after he beat Morales in 2004. Chavez was considered to be a serious threat to Barrera and a victory against him would reestablish Barrera as Mexico’s top fighter. Now that the big fight is off, Marco can focus on the richest prize of his career–a fight with Manny Pacquiao. It is perfect timing for Barrera because it will not only wipe away the sour taste boxing fans have had for his recent opponents, but it’ll give Barrera a head start in training for a summer Pacquiao fight. Manny is still making stop to every major city in the Philippines as well as flying to the United States constantly.
MORALES FIGHT TRUMPED BY OSCAR’S FAREWELL?
Top Rank is very animated at the fact that they want Morales to face Pacquiao September 16th in Las Vegas. However, it could be likely that Oscar De La Hoya would take that date in his final bout. It would not be smart to have both events on the same night so the fight could be moved to November. This gives Erik Morales the extra months he needs either to make the 130 pound limit or to regain the strength to fight another war. It may not be the ideal choice for Top Rank because it would be the second straight year they lost out on the coveted September PPV date, but Pacquiao-Morales III still probably doesn’t compare to Oscar De La Hoya’s last professional bout. As for Oscar’s end being in September, Ricardo Mayorga, is looking to behead Oscar in May! If Pacquiao should lose to Barrera, he would still receive a substantial purse in a rubber bout with Morales.
IS IT TOO MUCH TOO SOON FOR MANNY?
Potentially Pacquiao could be fighting two straight grueling, high profile fights in the row to end 2006 not to mention the first fight against Morales last March. It is definitely a tough mountain to climb, especially since both Mexican fighters want revenge so badly. However, Pacquiao has more than a good chance of beating both Barrera and Morales this year, which could shut down the entire country!
TOO MUCH RISK IN LARIOS FIGHT?
Some feel Oscar Larios is as tough of a fight as Barrera would be, minus the obvious benefits a Barrera win would give Pacquiao. In the boxing community, Pacquiao will easily be the best pound for pound fighter in the world and result to similar popularity in the United States. In the business sense, each fight would be multi-million dollar bouts for the ex-flyweight champion, who came to the United States with very little money just five year prior.
COULD BARRERA WANT THE OTHER PACQUIAO?
If a Barrera-Pacquiao fight is soon for all parties involved, Barrera could fight (and beat) the “Drama Setter” Bobby Pacquiao. It would not be as risky for Marco to fight the younger Pacquiao, but the fight would still draw a lot of interest, especially in the Filipino and Mexican community. Manny has stated in the press that Barrera’s team had interest in fight Bobby. WBO titleholder Jorge Barrios is another option, albeit tough, for Barrera but it would not draw as well as a Barrera-Bobby Pacquiao fight. Barrera is still the king of the super featherweights but needs to fight a marquee opponent similar to Jesus Chavez. Both Pacquiao brothers would satisfy the demand.
