By Ronnie Nathanielsz
International promoter Murad Muhammad, confident that Ring Magazine featherweight champion Manny Pacquiao will beat WBA/IBF champion Juan Manuel Marquez in their February 26 rematch said yesterday he had already penciled in a July date with HBO for Manny to fight Erik Morales who recently lost a close majority decision to Marco Antonio Barrera in their third encounter which was described as a fight for the ages.
Like any good promoter Murad is looking ahead and has convinced HBO to set aside a July date for a showdown between Pacquiao and Morales who was earlier supposed to fight the Filipino southpaw based on a commitment made by Top Rank Inc., president Bob Arum who reneged on the commitment and instead had Morales take on Barrera last November 28. Although Morales lost Murad said he didn't lose his credibility even as many boxing experts figured the best decision would have been a draw. Murad predicted that Pacquiao would beat Marquez and added that after we come out of the Morales fight we will take on Barrera if he's ready.
Should Barrera avoid an early rematch because of the memory of his eleventh round annihilation by Pacquiao in San Antonio, Texas on November 15, 2003 Murad said they would make a mandatory defense of the featherweight title and then meet Barrera at the end of the year. However, Murad conceded that while this was his planned schedule anything can happen in-between. Murad also mentioned the possibility of a unification fight against WBC champion Injin Chi who is managed by well-known South Korean businessman-sportsman Kusung Lee. Murad discussed the possibilities at a recent dinner meeting with Kusung Lee and WBC founding secretary general Rudy Salud and told him "let's prepare for the future so that Injin Chi and Pacquiao can meet and both fighters can make significant money." Murad conceded that "right now Injin Chi is not in the cards but because he's the champion and he's winning, there is a great possibility that he will meet Manny Pacquiao in the future."
Trainer Freddie Roach shares the confidence of Murad but stressed that the rematch with Marquez was going to be a hard, technical fight indicating that they would have to make some adjustments and have to fight a much better fight than we did last time because I'm sure Marquez is going to do the same.. Roach revealed that Marquez is "up in the mountains training for Manny right now. He is a conditioning freak but he's going to need to train up in the mountains because we'll be ready for him." Roach noted that while everybody wants to see the Barrera rematch I guess he doesn't want to come to the table so Morales is a very attractive fight out there and the featherweight division is hot right now. It should be a real good year for Manny.
Throughout his training Roach has drilled into Pacquiao the fact that Fahsan "cannot be taken lightly" no matter what anybody says. However, looking ahead Roach worked on Pacquiao's right which he said, "when he pivots properly as he sometimes does, is even more devastating than his left."