CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — The Filipino boxing idol Manny Pacquiao was reported to have left for the United States Tuesday, Sept. 8 to resume training to keep himself in shape just in case something comes up.
Before leaving, Pacquiao led the praying of the Holy Rosary at his Wildcard gym in Sucat, Paranaque along with former WBC Sec.General and sportsman Atty. Rudy Salud and several boxing enthusiasts.
A prayer power, the Pacman certainly needs at this time to come up with miraculous developments on negotiations for his next fights. It seems, it is not going anywhere.
Manny Pacquiao, the former IBF Jr. Featherweight boxing champion and dubbed as the People?s World Featherweight Boxing Champion is ?all dressed up but with nowhere to go.? After a frenzy of negotiations, Pacquiao is not anywhere close to booking a fight.
Reports have it that Marco Antonio Barrera with whom the camp of Pacquiao has been negotiating for a rematch is now booked to fight instead Erik Morales, the unified jr. lightweight title holder of the WBA and WBC. The fight is set sometime in November this year.
Although the camp of Morales has not confirmed this, negotiations towards this fight seem to be getting headway more than a Barrera-Pacquiao fight.
And with barely three months before the year-ends, chances of a fight for the Filipino boxing icon seem remote this year.
From the looks of it, it is more than a business decision that?s moving the camp of Barrera in negotiating the fight with Morales.
First, of course is money, a fight between Barrera and Morales could suck in Millions of Dollars for both boxers considering their previous encounters. At one win apiece, a third fight between the two could settle the score and could be more attractive.
Morales is the current unified WBC and WBA Jr lightweight king. A win and a title would enhance Barrera?s marketability more. It would be to Barrera?s long-term benefit and plans.
Manny Pacquiao may be the People?s Champion, but unfortunately, this title does not ring a bell in the cash register as much as a legitimate title.
Pacquiao is more of a risk than Morales, whom Barrera has fought twice and winning once. Barrera?s loss to Morales was on points, while he was devasted by Pacquiao in 11 brutal rounds.
Barrera may offer hundreds of reasons for that humiliation. The fact remains Pacquiao was the better boxer that night and any night for that matter given the same physical condition the Filipino was in that fight.
A fight with Pacquiao, perhaps, could bring in several million dollars for Barrera, but with only pride at stake and no title, the camp of Barrera perhaps do not consider the fight worth all the risk at this time.
So, it is logical, business and otherwise for the camp of Barrera to go after a fight with Morales than face Pacquiao again and risk the chance of losing everything just to redeem his pride. A fight with Pacquiao can wait.
So where does this development leads Pacquiao? Unfortunately, nowhere. He is literally left holding an empty bag. Unless his business managers can book a fight for him, Pacquiao may just have to wait by the sidelines until early next year when things clear up.
In the meantime, Pacquiao can keep himself in shape to be ready for any eventuality, just in case his managers come up with viable proposals for a possible fight. And he can keep on praying some concrete developments come up in the next few weeks.
Who knows, prayer power might yet make things possible his managers have not been able to do during the past months.
