WHILE he admits that everything remains up in the air, top trainer Freddie Roach expressed the belief that Manny Pacquiao will eventually square off with Marco Antonio Barrera next year.
“We are headed in that direction,” said Roach yesterday as the famed cornerman prepared for a flight to Cebu from Manila after attending Pacquiao’s party in General Santos City last Sunday.
But Roach said that if the megabuck match with Barrera materializes, it won’t happen in March but in April since there are still things that Team Pacquiao will have to iron out concerning the promotional agreement the fighter signed with Golden Boy Promotions (GBP) and Top Rank.
GBP had already penciled a March 17 date for Pacquiao-Barrera 2 on HBO but it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen on that day.
Still, Roach is confident of realizing his desire of calling the shots for Pacquiao opposite the Mexican to prove that the 11th-round destruction the Filipino dealt on Barrera was not a fluke but a true testament to his superiority.
“That’s the best fight out there for Manny,” said Roach, who’s been Pacquiao’s trainer since mid-2001.
Meanwhile, the Japanese handler of Venezuelan knockout king Edwin Valero told fightnews.com that an explosive duel with Pacquiao is not within their radar screen in 2007.
Akihiko Honda, head of the influential Teiken Promotions of Tokyo, said Valero, unbeaten in 20 fights with all wins by knockout, 18 in the first round, will fight two or three more before thinking of slugging it out with Pacquiao.
Valero is the reigning World Boxing Association super-featherweight champion and is set to defend it on January 3 against unheralded Michael Lozada of Mexico.
Valero, 25, had earlier been eyed by Top Rank to battle Pacquiao sometime in March in Macau.
