MEXICAN CHAMPION Marco Antonio Barrera said yesterday that he wants Erik Morales to prevail against Filipino warrior Manny Pacquiao on March 19 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
“I am rooting for Morales (against Pacquiao) because as Mexicans, we have to root for one another,” Barrera told fightnews.com during news conference announcing his April 9 mandatory defense of the World Boxing Council (WBC) superfeatherweight throne against South African Mzonke Fana.
The scheduled 12-rounder is going to take place at the 12,000-seat Don Haskins Center in El Paso, Texas, and will be available on HBO Pay-Per-View, according to Oscar dela Hoya, whose Golden Boy Promotions is staging the blockbuster card.
Fana earned the right to face Barrera after beating Filipino Randy Suico last year in a title elimination match in Johannesburg. Suico lost only by split decision after getting several chances of shutting the lights out of the fleet-footed African.
Barrera, from Mexico City, is 2-1 in his head-to-head with Moraleswho comes from the border town of Tijuana. In their last fight in Nov. 2004, Barrera won on points.
Pacquiao?s biggest win so far is an 11th-round destruction of Barrera in Nov. 2003 before hostile fans at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
The survivor of the Pacquiao-Morales bout that will also be shown on HBO PPV, will gain an inside track as Barrera?s rival, assuming of course, Barrera staves off Fana.
