LAS VEGAS ? Manny Pacquiao became a star with his upset victory over Marco Antonio Barrera nearly four years ago, so the Filipino champion should be wary of the eerie symmetry evident in every corner of their rematch.
Barrera certainly sees it ? and that’s why he believes he’s about to pull one last stunner tonight to end a career full of them.
Back in 2003, Barrera was a respected champion and a wide favorite over the rising young Pacquiao despite a myriad of distractions, ranging from a wildfire near his training camp to the controversy around a metal plate in his head.
Pacquiao dominated the fight in San Antonio, stopping Barrera in the 11th round for the only TKO loss of his career. The win flung Pacquiao into a four-year whirlwind of fame, fortune and multimedia stardom, while Barrera lost the air of invincibility that defined him.
“It was a total meltdown,” Barrera said through a translator. “I can’t really take anything from that fight. It was Manny’s night. I’ve been thinking about that night ever since. All the time I’ve been preparing for this fight, that’s been on my mind.”
Pacquiao is widely expected to triumph in their 130-pound non-title bout at Mandalay Bay despite his well-documented preoccupations with movies, music and politics in recent years. The 33-year-old Barrera claims he’s in his last big-money prizefight, content to retire as one of Mexico’s greatest champions.
“I don’t want to be in this fight overconfident and give him a chance to win,” Pacquiao said. “That’s why I work hard on this fight. . . . That’s his life. If he wants to stop boxing, or if he wants to continue, that’s no big deal to me.”
Both fighters weighed in at exactly 130 pounds on Friday, with Barrera smiling widely and pumping his fist at the mostly Mexican crowd. His Golden Boy promoters stood behind him ? including Bernard Hopkins, who behaved himself on the same stage where he hit Winky Wright with a $200,000 shove at the weigh-in for their July 21 fight.
Pacquiao was businesslike on the stage, flashing a V for victory while the fans booed. Pacquiao has been the scourge of Mexican fighters in recent years, beating Barrera, Erik Morales, Oscar Larios and Jorge Solis while fighting Juan Manuel Marquez to a controversial draw.
The matchup is the product of a long-overdue detente between promoters Bob Arum and De La Hoya, who wrangled over the rights to Pacquiao for more than two years in a stormy dispute involving lawsuits, harsh words and big stacks of cash.
Arum retained the right to promote Pacquiao, while Barrera is ready for the final major payday of his time with Golden Boy.
“(Barrera) is going to fight a much better fight, because the first time he didn’t know very much about Manny,” Arum said. “He went in there feeling he was just fighting some ordinary fighter, and he learned his lesson. He’s going to fight a more intelligent fight.”
It’s difficult to find a logical way Barrera can match Pacquiao’s speed and toughness, particularly after the Mexican champion’s decision loss to Marquez in March. But Barrera has made a career of unlikely victories, from his 2001 upset of Prince Naseem Hamed to his two wins apiece over Morales and Rocky Juarez.
