Richard Schaefer, CEO of Golden Boy Promotions, told this reporter on Friday that he remained hopeful that a rematch between Manny Pacquiao and Marco Antonio Barrera could still happen, in spite of the ongoing promotional problems surrounding Pacquiao.
Bob Arum, chairman of the board of Top Rank Inc., said Tuesday afternoon during a telephone interview that he, too, held out hope that something could be worked out in that regard.
But by the time Tuesday night rolled around, Schaefer had signed Barrera and Juan Manuel Marquez to a contract to fight each other March 17 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Barrera, who, like Marquez, is promoted by Golden Boy, will be defending his World Boxing Council super featherweight belt. The event will be available on HBO pay-per-view.
This wipes out any real chance fans had of seeing Barrera try to avenge the 11th-round technical knockout he suffered at the powerful hands of Pacquiao in November 2003 in San Antonio, Texas. They could get together later, but it’s difficult to say how much longer Barrera is going to fight. He’ll be 33 on Jan. 17, which means he’s getting up there in years for a smaller fighter, especially one with 68 fights.
Pacquiao recently signed promotional contracts first with Golden Boy, then with Top Rank. A lawsuit on the matter was filed by Golden Boy against Top Rank in Los Angeles. And Las Vegas-based Top Rank filed a counter suit in Nevada. Meanwhile Pacquiao said last week at a news conference in his native Philippines that he is going to honor his contract with Arum and Top Rank.
At that point, Arum sent a letter to Golden Boy outlining a proposal for Pacquiao to fight Barrera on April 28 in Macau, China. Arum offered Golden Boy and Barrera $2.5 million. Barrera and Golden Boy would have wanted the fight to take place at the date and place in which Barrera-Marquez will be contested.
“Well, Bob Arum is not Pacquiao’s promoter,” Schaefer said late Tuesday after he had completed the deal for Barrera-Marquez. “Bob Arum has no legal rights to Pacquiao. And so there is nothing to be negotiated with Bob Arum.”
Even so, Schaefer said he wanted to see if he could hammer out something that would bring us Barrera-Pacquiao II, and that he had an idea that could have worked out under the right circumstances.
“There are certain deadlines which have to be met,” Schaefer said. “And, actually, one of them we already missed. So there was a tremendous amount of pressure we were operating under from HBO pay-per-view and so we had to make a decision. And Barrera had to make a decision.
“We could have waited around until such time as the courts are going to decide who is going to be the legal promoter for Pacquiao, or we could have done what I suggested, which Arum didn’t want to and I guess Pacquiao didn’t want to. Which is, We are the promoter for Marco Antonio Barrera, and we believe we are the promoter as well of Manny Pacquiao.
“So we, Golden Boy, could have done the fight between Barrera and Pacquiao and we would have done it under a 50-50 deal and we would have put aside the promotional profits which are attributed to the Pacquiao side and put those profits into an escrow account. And then at such time when it’s going to be decided who the legal promoter for Pacquiao is, whoever that would be would get that money released to them.”
Schaefer said the amount of money Arum offered up in the aforementioned letter was absurd.
“It was a ludicrous letter, which is being dealt with by our attorneys,” Schaefer said. “To top it all off, the offer he made was ridiculous. I don’t know where this guy is coming from. I mean, what does he thinK? I guess you can’t stop him from making any offers, but he has no business making any offers here. He doesn’t have anyone in the party.”
Don’t tell Arum that. Without knowing that Schaefer was about to complete the deal for Barrera-Marquez, Arum said that Pacquiao will be fighting on April 28 at a Steve Wynn-owned hotel in Macau one way or another.
“I have given Manny 10 opponents and he is studying the list,” Arum said.
Of course, by the time April 28 comes along, the services of Pacquiao may already be determined. Arum said he is confident he will emerge victorious.
“Our lawyers have said that we have an extremely strong case,” Arum said. “And they advised me to go ahead with Manny’s next fight.”
One thing’s certain, barring injury we will see Barrera-Marquez. There is no promotional conflict because both are promoted by Golden Boy. Barrera is 63-4 with 42 knockouts and one no-contest. Marquez, 33, is 46-3-1 with 35 knockouts. He is a former world featherweight champion.
“It’s not Barrera’s fault that Pacquiao got himself into that mess and it’s not fair to Barrera to just sit around,” Schaefer said. “It seems like the fight fans want to see most is the Pacquiao-Barrera fight, followed by Barrera-Marquez. And Barrera-Marquez has a lot of interesting angles as well.”
Marquez and Pacquiao squared off on May 8, 2004, at MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Marquez was decked three times in the first round, but fought gallantly in eventually earning a draw.
“Pretty much every fighter, except Pacquiao, has avoided Marquez,” Schaefer said. “And when Pacquiao did fight Marquez, a lot of the boxing writers felt that Marquez actually won that fight. And so for Barrera now to go and fight this guy, Marquez, is certainly a great fight as well and the kind of fight which could potentially become the kind of fight where you see more than one.
“I think most media members would agree that he (Marquez) has been one of the most feared fighters. Here comes Barrera and he says, ‘I want to face this guy. I’m up to the challenge.’ I think this is a testament to the kind of warrior Marco Antonio Barrera is. And remember, Barrera always gets up for the biggest challenges.”
Well, Pacquiao would have been a huge challenge for Barrera. He has already been stopped once by the Filipino superstar, who is coming off a third-round knockout of Erik Morales last month.
Then again, Marquez is one tough hombre and one of the great counterpunchers in the game. Could be a good one.
