Manny Pacquiao vs Marco Antonio Barrera rematch will be after Barrera-Marquez fight
MANNY PACQUIAO has not completely shut the door on a possible rematch with World Boxing Council super featherweight champion.
The Filipino ring icon assured WBC president Jose Sulaiman, who called him up last Tuesday, that he is still interested in fighting Barrera, whom he stopped in the 11th round of their non-title bout in San Antonio, Texas in 2003.
A source privy to the telephone conversation that also involved Filipino boxing promoter Rex “Wakee” Salud said Pacquiao wanted promoter Bob Arum to raise to $3 million the money he offered to Barrera recently.
Arum originally offered Barrera a $2.5 million purse to stake his title against Pacquiao during a Manila press conference where the Filipino officially confirmed the head of Top Rank as his new promoter.
Following the three-way teleconference, Pacquiao and Sulaiman talked privately, the source added. The Filipino superstar refused to divulge what was discussed except to say that the Barrera fight was main topic.
Sulaiman’s call came on the heels of Barrera’s announced March 17 fight with Juan Manuel Marquez and Pacquiao’s planned April 28 bout in Macau, China.
Apparently, the WBC is in a bind. It has to decide between stripping Barrera of the WBC title for failing to defend against mandatory challenger Pacquiao and sanctioning the Barrera-Marquez fight as a WBC title defense.
The WBC decided during its last convention that the winner of the Pacquiao-Erik Morales “Grand Finale” will become the mandatory challenger to Barrera.
Observers say the WBC is also faced with the problem of determining whether Barrera refused to fight Pacquiao in a mandatory defense or the Filipino did not want to fight the Mexican.
Earlier, the WBC had scrapped a purse bid scheduled today for the Pacquiao-Barrera rematch, saying that it has yet to do “more research” on the matter.
The Filipino ring icon assured WBC president Jose Sulaiman, who called him up last Tuesday, that he is still interested in fighting Barrera, whom he stopped in the 11th round of their non-title bout in San Antonio, Texas in 2003.
A source privy to the telephone conversation that also involved Filipino boxing promoter Rex “Wakee” Salud said Pacquiao wanted promoter Bob Arum to raise to $3 million the money he offered to Barrera recently.
Arum originally offered Barrera a $2.5 million purse to stake his title against Pacquiao during a Manila press conference where the Filipino officially confirmed the head of Top Rank as his new promoter.
Following the three-way teleconference, Pacquiao and Sulaiman talked privately, the source added. The Filipino superstar refused to divulge what was discussed except to say that the Barrera fight was main topic.
Sulaiman’s call came on the heels of Barrera’s announced March 17 fight with Juan Manuel Marquez and Pacquiao’s planned April 28 bout in Macau, China.
Apparently, the WBC is in a bind. It has to decide between stripping Barrera of the WBC title for failing to defend against mandatory challenger Pacquiao and sanctioning the Barrera-Marquez fight as a WBC title defense.
The WBC decided during its last convention that the winner of the Pacquiao-Erik Morales “Grand Finale” will become the mandatory challenger to Barrera.
Observers say the WBC is also faced with the problem of determining whether Barrera refused to fight Pacquiao in a mandatory defense or the Filipino did not want to fight the Mexican.
Earlier, the WBC had scrapped a purse bid scheduled today for the Pacquiao-Barrera rematch, saying that it has yet to do “more research” on the matter.
posted by Achilez at
8:20 PM
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