One good turn deserves another. For watching his fight against Rocky Juarez on Saturday (Sunday in Manila), Marco Antonio Barrera told Manny Pacquiao that he will watch the Filipino prizefighter when he takes on Oscar Larios on July 2 at the Araneta Coliseum.
Barrera made his promise to go to the Philippines and watch his Filipino tormentor go up against his Mexican compatriot after narrowly beating Juarez by split decision to retain his World Boxing Council super featherweight crown on Saturday at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
Pacquiao, manager Shelly Finkel, interpreter Joe Ramos and Nick Khan, also a member of “PacMan’s” management team, were at ringside to watch the thrilling fight.
“It was a great fight. The fans repeatedly approached Manny and Freddie Roach for autographs and pictures throughout the evening,” Khan said in an e-mail message.
“Barrera hugged Manny after the fight and wished him well in his fight against Larios. Barrera further stated that he will be attending the Pacquiao-Larios fight,” Khan added.
Barrera is one of three famous Mexican boxers—others being Erik Morales and Juan Manuel Marquez—who has a score to settle with Pacquiao.
“The Baby-Faced Assassin” took a terrible beating at the hands of the Pinoy pug, who pulled off a masterful 11th-round technical knockout on November 15, 2003 in front of a stunned predominantly Mexican crowd at the Alamo Dome in San Antonio, Texas.
Barrera has vowed to even things in a rematch with his Filipino tormentor.
The Barrera-Juarez championship was a day after Pacquiao and Larios held a press conference to drum up their “Mano-a-Mano” showdown to the Filipino and Hispanic boxing fans in the United States, who are expected to watch the fight via pay-per-view.
“The press conference went extremely well, with about 75 members of the press attending,” Khan said.
“Manny has looked impressive in training and sparring begins this week,” he added.
On the other hand, Morales said on Thursday to a boxing website that his much-awaited return bout with Pacquiao has been set on October 7 by Top Rank Promotions in Las Vegas, Nevada.
“Top Rank has confirmed that my fight with Pacquiao will be on October 7. I think this will give me enough time to prepare for the rematch,” said “El Terible” in Spanish in an interview with box-latino.com.
Morales is aching to redeem his tarnished image after suffering a crushing defeat to Pacquiao in 10 rounds on January 21 at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
It marked the first time that the proud Mexican boxer was knocked out in his illustrious ring career.
Morales, who complained that bringing himself down to the fight weight of 130 pounds had sapped his strength, has finally agreed to slug it out with Pacquiao at the same weight limit in what promises to be another no-hold-barred slugfest for the third—and perhaps last—time.
