WHICH IS which?
Filipino boxing fans, especially supporters of Manny Pacquiao, are confused. One matchmaker will say one thing today, the following day another will announce a contradiction.
Take Eric Gomez, an international matchmaker from the camp of Oscar de la Hoya.
Gomez believes that the planned third fight between Pacquiao and Mexican icon Erik Morales will not happen this year.
His announcement runs counter to the declaration of Pacquiao’s promoters who say all is set for a Pacquiao-Morales III in November.
If nothing happens in Pacquiao’s scheduled fights this year, blame these so-called matchmakers.
In an interview with Bulletin, Gomez said there were reports in Mexico that Morales wants a tune-up fight bout before taking on Pacquiao a third time.
“I’m just speculating. But with the information we are getting from Morales’ camp, we feel that Morales-Pacquiao III won’t happen this year,” said Gomez who was in Cebu last weekend.
Gomez along with another matchmaker Sampson Lewkowicz recently sealed a deal with their Cebuano counterparts Tony Aldeguer and Sammy Gello-ani in promoting budding boxers Z Gorres and Rey ‘Boom Boom’ Bautista in their future bouts in the United States.
Both Gomez and Lewkowicz work for Golden Boy Promotions (GBP), a boxing outfit owned by superstar Oscar Dela Hoya who formally announced the partnership last Friday in Cebu via a teleconference from Los Angeles headquarters in America.
With the Pacquiao-Morales III in peril, Golden Boy Prmotions immediately secured a Nov. 4 date with HBO for another Mexican superstar Marco Antonio Barrera.
Gomez revealed they will soon negotiate with Team Pacquiao to arrange a Barrera-Pacquiao rematch on the said date at the MGM Grand Garden Hotel, a venue which the group was able to reserve.
Barrera, who is also promoted by GBP, has expressed his strong desire to fight Pacquiao so he can avenge his 11th round TKO loss to the Filipino boxer in November 2003 in San Antonio, Texas.
