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NO CHANCE FOR BARRERA TO WIN AGAINST PACQUIAO By Ronnie Nathanielsz PhilBoxing.com Sat, 06 Oct 2007  It is almost impossible to find one single individual who is prepared to give fading Mexican legend Marco Antonio Barrera a chance against the Philippines? national treasure Manny Pacquiao in their rematch at the Mandalay Bay Resort Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada on Sunday, Manila Time. Even broadcaster and manager of world champions Luisito Espinosa and Morris East, Hermie Rivera, has switched sides dramatically since he took a beating when he opined there was no way Pacquiao could beat Barrera in their first meeting on November 15, 2003. Rivera was not just wrong ?- he was dead wrong when Pacquiao gave Barrera a merciless beating for eleven rounds before brother Jorge ? now his trainer -? jumped into the ring to stop the carnage. Rivera, like many others, has switched sides and is now profuse in his praise of Pacquiao who, if the experts know what they are talking about, should settle the issue once he feels he has entertained the fans on a worldwide pay-per-view audience and his countrymen on national television enough, and Solar Sports and GMA 7 who have partnered for the ?Will to Win? unload enough commercials to hopefully cover their sky high costs. One of the men steeped in boxing who provided a sound assessment of the fight is WBC president Jose Sulaiman who told Viva Sports/Manila Standard Today in an overseas telephone conversation from his home in Mexico City very matter-of-factly ?Pacquiao will knock him out.? Sulaiman said that when Barrera was ?younger and tougher he couldn?t beat Pacquiao when Pacquiao was green and now that Barrera has announced that this is going to be his last fight, obviously he?s over the hill and Manny is at his prime.? The WBC president said he would be ?very, very surprised if something else happens? and Barrera wins even as he took refuge in the fact that in boxing ?anything can happen? but that he believes Pacquiao has ?a great advantage over Barrera.? Sulaiman said the only way for Barrera to survive and try and pull off a shocking upset would be to box and ?that is what he is going to do. He is not going to exchange punches like the first fight. He will fight the way he fought Rocky Juarez in their rematch because the first time he counter-punched and Juarez beat him clearly but with the judges in Las Vegas, you can never tell.? While Barrera trained with hard-hitting southpaw Edwin Valero, the WBA super featherweight champion ?for a little while?, Sulaiman noted that for the first time in his life Barrera ?stayed home. He didn?t go to the mountains, he didn?t stay away from home.? Sulaiman totally disagreed with this set-up. Sulaiman emphasized ?when you are training for a great fight you got to get away from love and from taking it easy. You gotta train to go in the ring and destroy your rival.? The WBC president conceded that Pacquiao ?might have a few problems in the early rounds but I believe that Pacquiao will surely knock him (Barrera) out.? Among those who will watch the fight at special ringside will be the members of the original Team Pacquiao, former business manager Rod Nazario who nurtured Pacquiao?s career from a skinny kid of 16 years to become a multi-titled world champion on the weekly boxing show "Blow by Blow", well-known TV boxing commentator Moy Lainez and the man who originally carried Pacquiao's championship belt into the ring, Lito Mondejar who was unceremoniously replaced by a politician in the person of the Mayor of Bacolod City. The "Living Legend" of Philippine basketball Robert Jaworski who visited Pacquiao during training at the Wild Card Gym and predicted a seventh round knockout win will also be at special ringside hoping his prediction will come true while Games and Amusements Board chairman Eric Buhain will be in attendance along with boxing division chief Dr. Nasser Cruz. However, according to Pacquiao's close friend and confidant Rex "Wakee" Salud, this time around the number of politicians has been reduced considerably as well as the number of freeloaders. Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.  |
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