Having fought and demolished two Mexican legends and future Hall of Famers, Manny Pacquiao has indeed made his mark in the world of prize fighting. But beating them again will not only make him one of the greatest Filipino fighters but one of the world’s greatest fighters of all time.
“If Manny beats both of these guys, both being Hall of Fame fighters, he will go down as one of the greatest Filipino fighters of all time…and one of the greatest fighters of all time. There’s no doubt about that,” said Freddie Roach, Pacquiao’s equally popular trainer and coach, in an interview with Brad Cooney of BoxingTalk.net.
Pacquiao broke into the world boxing consciousness by whipping Barrera in a convincing 11-round TKO in 2003 at the Alamodome, then regained his status as one of the sport’s future all-time greats by destroying the once-invincible Morales via a 10th round TKO last January in Las Vegas in a victory that avenged his loss to the former three-time world champion last year.
The Filipino ring idol is set to take on Morales in a keenly awaited rubber match this November and hopefully collide with Barrera in an equally explosive rematch early next year.
However, Roach said the possibility of Pacquiao taking on Barrera first instead of Morales in November looms after the latter continued to insist on fighting on a catch-weight of 132-lb where the Filipino icon isn’t comfortable with.
“Erik keeps talking about 132 lbs but Manny is stuck on fighting at 130 lbs. If we give in anything we would be giving Morales an advantage and we don’t want to do that,” said Roach.
“So if Morales doesn’t want to fight at 130 lbs, then we are looking at a rematch with Barrera,” he added.
But before Pacquiao gets to fight these two Mexican warriors who are raring to stop him in his tracks, the General Santos native will have to hurdle an evenly tough Oscar Larios in a July 2 encounter at the Araneta Coliseum.
It is one fight Roach hates to take lightly.
“This guy Larios is a world champion and Manny will have to be in the same condition as he was when he beat Morales,” said Roach, stressing that the former WBC super bantamweight champion has nothing to lose but everything to gain against Pacquiao.
“Larios says he’s more comfortable at 130 lbs. So we will respect this guy and not take him lightly,” added Roach, who coined the upcoming fight as “Thrilla in Manila 2.”
