LAS VEGAS ? Bragging is no big thing in boxing. So after Manny Pacquiao invited friends and acquaintances for a victory celebration on Saturday (Sunday in Manila), it was Marco Antonio Barrera?s turn yesterday to boast.
So assured of victory is Barrera that he told somebody who came up to him late Tuesday morning that he can put his money on him.
“Without a doubt (I am going to win),” Barrera said through interpreter Ramiro Gonzalez, the publicity director of Golden Boy Promotions, at the main arrival lobby of The Hotel at Mandalay Bay.
“My experience is going to be the key to victory and I wasn?t able to prepare the way I should have (in the first fight in 2003) and I am doing my best now,” said Barrera, who remains the underdog heading into Saturday evening?s slambang affair at the 12,000-seat Events Center.
Barrera said what makes this fight extra special is the fact that he has guaranteed his family that this is going to be his last fight at this level as he already plans to leave the ring to spend more time with them.
Barrera, who belongs to a well-to-do family in Mexico City, has been a professional since 1989 and is a shoo-in for immortality regardless of the outcome of the Pacquiao rematch.
“This is my last big fight and this is the decision that I have reached with my family,” said Barrera, looking cocky and confident of exacting payback at the Asian sensation who dealt him an 11 th-round knockout loss.
While there?ll be a considerable number of fans rooting for Pacquiao on fight night, Barrera expects the crowd to be dominated by Mexicans who would be sentimental about his impending exit that they would all go all-out to support his every move.
“The most important thing is the Latinos will be shouting ?Barrera, Barrera? and I want to get this victory,” said Barrera, who trained exclusively in Guadalajara.
Top Rank publicist and Spanish translator, former journalist Ricardo Jimenez, believes Barrera will “fight a tactical fight” meaning the Mexican would use his ring generalship to frustrate Pacquiao just as he did when he won over the equally-aggressive Rocky Juarez a few months back.
But whether Barrera can do that by eluding or enduring a Pacquiao blitzkrieg is in doubt as most ringsiders tend to believe.
Even Barrera admits his back is against the wall as nobody except maybe a few friends and his family put their trust and confidence in him.
“It?s not only the Philippines that says this is going to be an easy fight for Pacquiao,? said the stern-looking Barrera in an answer to a question posed by a visiting Manila-based scribe. “The whole world says it so but I am prepared and I know I can win this fight.”
After making public his arrival, Barrera climbed the ring and posed for pictures and declined to take his shirt off. He just made the thumbs-up sign as cameras clicked and did not even came up with a slight boxing move.
While Barrera insists that he?s no longer keen on facing Pacquiao for the third time even if he ends up victorious, GBP head Oscar De La Hoya believes there?s no other choice but to stage a third bout.
“Absolutely that has to happen. That?s the beauty of boxing, there?s always the revenge factor,” said De La Hoya.
NOTES: Fight merchandise like shirts, caps and longsleeve sweaters can be purchased in key locations at the lobby of the Mandalay Bay with shirts (white, gray and black) going for each, caps (white and black) at and sweaters (black only) at ?.Pacquiao?s businessminded associates are also coming up with their own merchandising line that will be unveiled in the next few days?.Pacquiao is fighting for the first time at Mandalay Bay, while this will be Barrera?s third stint here after losing the first two.
