The World Boxing Council (WBC) disclosed yesterday that super-featherweight champion Marco Antonio Barrera “is willing and ready” to make a mandatory defense against Manny Pacquiao, a fight everybody wants to witness since both fighters are known for their sheer power.
Although Pacquiao beat Barrera the first they met, the Gen San pride wants to prove that his victory was no fluke.
And what the Filipino southpaw has to do is to let the Mexico-based boxing body know about his plans.
WBC president Jose Sulaiman, in a letter dated last Monday and addressed to Pacquiao and manager Shelly Finkel, promoter Gary Shaw and Games and Amusements Board (GAB) chairman Eric Buhain, said Barrera “has contacted the WBC to let us know” about his desire to defend against Pacquiao.
“It is absolutely necessary that you inform us within seven days, as requested before, if you accept the official challenger position and if you are ready to fight for the WBC’s super-featherweight championship of the world,” wrote Sulaiman.
Copies of the letter were given to Tempo by GAB boxing division chief Noli Flores.
The WBC had earlier approved the proposed rubber match between Pacquiao and Erik Morales as “a final elimination bout to find the mandatory challenger in the division to face Barrera and/or to appoint the winner as the WBC champion if Barrera would fight next for the championship of a different organization,” wrote Sulaiman.
“We need to know you response in order to start the free negotiations period or to determine a different official challenger if you decline the WBC official appointment (as mandatory challenger).”
On a personal note, Sulaiman told Pacquiao: “I sincerely hope that you will fight next for the WBC’s championship, which was the first world championship that you ever held at the beginning of your brilliant boxing career.”
Before Pacquiao’s meteoric rise, he had held the WBC flyweight title from December 1998 to September 1999.
The latest development could affect Pacquiao’s immediate plans as he has agreed to fight in a tuneup sometime in June or July against a still unnamed foe at the Araneta Coliseum.
