Boxing icon Manny Pacquiao on Monday said he is hesitant about going to a higher weight division despite his willingness to give Mexican legend Erik Morales another fight.
Pacquiao said the contract in their rematch states that if he wins, a rubber match is set to settle the one-all score between them. Pacquiao defeated Morales with a 10th-round stoppage in their World Boxing Council (WBC) super featherweight eliminator Sunday.
“May kontrata kaming magre-rematch kami kapag nanalo ako kaya lang parang ayaw niyang mag-rematch gusto niya sa mabigat na timbang (We have a contract that we go to a rematch if I win but it seems like he wanted to fight on a heavier weight category),” he told ABS-CBN’s Magandang Umaga Pilipinas.
In a separate interview with DZMM, the boxing champ said he remained hesitant about going up a weight class.
“Wala muna kasi mahirap ‘yung mag-ambisyon ng mag-ambisyon (I have no plans. Being too ambitious would be difficult),” he said.
He said he plans to rest for the next three to four months before taking on either Morales or WBC super featherweight champ Marco Antonio Barrera.
Barrera is set to fight another foe in March, but Golden Boy Promotions, which handles the fighter, has offered Pacquiao’s camp an early crack at the “Baby Faced Assassin.”
The last time they met, the Filipino slugger badly mauled Barrera at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas on November 30, 2003, prompting the Mexican’s camp to literally throw in the towel in the 11th round.
But since that loss, Barrera has been on a roll, winning all of his last four fights, among them a unanimous decision win over Morales in November 27, 2004, to wrest the WBC crown.
Pacquiao said he will continue his training under coach Freddie Roach. “Tuloy tuloy ito. Ang gusto ko nga ay more improvement pa sa kanan para mahirap na akong talunin. More hard training and more improvement (This will continue. I want more improvement with my right hand so I’d be harder to beat),” he said.
Pacquiao earlier said he was surprised that he knocked down Morales in the 10th round of their fight at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Referee Kenny Bayless halted the fight at 2:33 in the round when Morales hit the canvass after receiving a series of explosive punches from Pacquiao.
Pacquiao earned $2 million (P104 million) from the 130-pound showdown.
