Dethroned pound-for-pound featherweight king Marco Antonio Barrera would rather settle an old score with Manny Pacquiao than face Erik Morales for the third time.
This was revealed yesterday by Pacquiao?s American promoter Murad Muhammad, who informed boxing website Boxingtalk that ?based on his discussions with Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaeffer, he believes Team Marco Antonio Barerra is leaning towards the Pacquiao rematch over a third fight will fellow Mexican legend Erik Morales.?
Muhammad, who steered Pacquiao?s US campaign which involved winning the IBF superbantam crown and then knocking out the erstwhile great Barrera last November 15 in San Antonio, Texas, intimated that the date being put in consideration is November 27 on an HBO pay-per-view.
If plans materialize, Muhammad is expected to announce soon the purse as well as the venue of the fight after thorough discussions with Schaeffer.
Reports have also come out that the Mandalay Bay Resort Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas will be the frontrunner site of the rematch since its executive, reportedly with Filipino roots, had expressed interest in holding the event. San Francisco and Los Angeles are also possible venues for the proposed rematch owing to the big Filipino and Mexican population in the areas.
Earlier, promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank announced that Erik Morales would most likely face Barrera in November right after the Morales-Carlos Hernandez bout for the WBC and IBF junior lightweight titles. Morales prevailed on a unanimous decision to make himself a dual champ at 130 lbs.
Pacquiao, together with younger brother Bobby, the reigning Philippine junior lightweight champ and young phenom Z Gorres of Cebu, are scheduled to depart for the United States in early September to hook up with trainer Freddie Roach at the latter?s Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles.
