LAS VEGAS – It was nearly four years ago – in November 2003 – that Marco Antonio Barrera of Mexico stepped into the ring with Filipino dynamo Manny Pacquiao. Forty minutes or so after the opening bell, Pacquiao had given Barrera the first and only knockout loss of his career, stopping him in the 11th round of their featherweight bout.
After the setback, Barrera went about making excuses as to why he lost. The biggest thing, he said, was all the outside distractions that affected the way he trained.
“It was a total meltdown,” Barrera said last week. “It was Manny’s night that fight. He took it to me. But this fight, the difference is going to be the inspiration within me. I’m real inspired for this fight and training camp has been real relaxed. No problems.”
Barrera tonight will get a chance at redemption when he squares off with Pacquiao in the super featherweight main event at Mandalay Bay. Barrera said a perfect training camp in Guadalajara, Mexico, and his vast knowledge are what will lead him to his greatest victory.
“The big difference I think from the first fight and this fight is the preparation,” Barrera said. “The preparation I had for this one is so good. I just feel so confident.”
By all accounts, Barrera had a trouble-free training camp. His publicist, Ramiro Gonzalez, said Barrera is “very calm.”
Then again, Barrera will be minus longtime trainer Rudy Perez for the first time in his 18-year professional career.
According to Barrera, the split occurred when Perez didn’t show up for about 20 days of camp for his fight in March against countryman Juan Manuel Marquez. Marquez won via decision. Perez worked the corner that night, but Barrera said that by that time he had put his brother, Jorge Barrera, in charge. Perez, who has not made himself available for comment, is no longer part of the camp and Jorge Barrera is the lead trainer. Barrera, 33, said that is no problem because his brother has actually been “in charge” of his training for years.
If that is the case, then all Barrera (63-5, 42 KOs) has to worry about is how to fend off the offensive machine that is the left-handed Pacquiao, while doing some damage of his own. It won’t be easy. And Barrera understandably won’t be specific about his strategy.
“You know, sometimes experience beats a young guy that’s at his peak,” Barrera said. “And that’s what I have. It’s not that I have to get up to my `A’ game or up to his level. It’s about using my experience and doing my plan of fight, and that’s what’s going to help me be victorious.”
One thing that is almost certain, Barrera will not stand toe-to-toe with Pacquiao. That plan of attack would seem to carry a low percentage of being effective. Just ask Erik Morales. In the last of his three fights with Pacquiao last November in Las Vegas, Morales threw down with Pacquiao and landed a good share of heavy-handed punches.
Pacquiao walked right through them and knocked out Morales in the third round. Pacquiao, too, knows it is unlikely Barrera will throw caution to the wind. Rather, he expects Barrera will be as technical as possible.
“I know he’s going to box me,” said Pacquiao, 28. “We know that already and we’re prepared for that.”
Pacquiao (44-3-2, 35 KOs) is trained by Freddie Roach. Roach has heard all the positive stuff coming out of Barrera’s camp. But in his mind, it doesn’t matter what Barrera does tonight because Pacquiao will do it better.
“I’m sure he has to make some adjustments from the first fight,” Roach said of Barrera. “He’s not going to fight us the same way, obviously, because it wasn’t successful the first time. We expect him to be in that counterpunch mode and fight at a slow pace, and we’re just not going to allow that to happen.
“Manny’s a much better fighter now than the first time they fought. I think he’s much stronger and a much better puncher at this weight. Now at 130 pounds, he’s very comfortable. If he wants to fight us, I don’t think he can outfight us. And I don’t think he can outbox us, either.”
Like his trainer, Pacquiao has heard nothing but good things about the way training has gone for Barrera. For that, he is glad.
“For me, that’s good,” Pacquiao said, “so we can give a good fight to the fans. I want him to be in shape for the fight 100 percent so the fight is good, and so there are no excuses.”
Whereas Pacquiao has many years left in this business, Barrera is on his way out. For Barrera, a victory tonight is a must.
“This is a personal fight for me,” Barrera said. “It’s very personal. He beat me so I have to get my revenge.”
Both fighters Friday weighed in at the 130-pound limit.
