WILD CARD Boxing Club guru Freddie Roach is cautioning fans of the beloved Filipino fighter MAanny Pacquiao from describing Mexican Oscar Larios as a mere opponent.
“He’s a tough guy,” Roach told boxingtalk.net from the famed sweat shop in Hollywood.
“It’s funny the papers in The Philippines are saying he’s a bum and a stiff but I am trying to tell these people that he’s a live opponent and ex-world champion,” Roach told fight scribe Brad Cooney. “And he’s not an easy opponent by any means.”
Pacquiao and Larios are booked to slug it out on July 2 at the Araneta Coliseum and the Filipino’s World Boxing Council International super-featherweight crown will be on the line in the fight that will sell out according to the event organizers.
To prepare for Larios, Pacquiao will spend one full month in Los Angeles under Roach and they will both head back to the Philippines in June for the final phase of the training somewhere in Baguio.
The Larios bout is being billed as a buildup for a much bigger match before the year comes to a close.
On the horizon are Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera although Team Pacquiao says Morales is the priority owing to a prior agreement.
What could kill the prospects of seeing Morales and Pacquiao go at it for the third time would be the weight limit as the Filipino insists he will not agree to a rubber match if the Mexican demands that they face off at 132 lbs.
If Morales insists that it should be at the weight of his choice, Pacquiao will begin to talk with Golden Boy Promotions (GBP), which represents Barrera.
GBP has already penciled Nov. 4 as a date for the Barrera-Pacquiao rematch with the MGM Grand in Las Vegas as venue.
