by Ronnie Nathanielsz

Alejandro “Zorrito” Barrera, a cousin of Mexican legend Marco Antonio Barrera was stone-faced and clearly not bothered by an embarrassing incident during the official weigh-in for the “Philippines vs The World” blockbuster fight card at the Waterfront Hotel and Casino in Cebu on Saturday.

Barrera was half-a-pound over the stipulated featherweight limit of 126 pounds and decided to strip completely while a large Mexican flag was wrapped around him. But even as he prepared to step onto the scales the flag fell and trainer Edito “Ala” Villamor and  Mexican Mike Lopez  who lives in Cebu and was holding one end of the flag quickly scurried to cover up the snafu as both women and men in the  big crowd that watched the proceedings screamed, aghast at what they witnessed.

Barrera was not bothered. He stared down at opponent Rey “Boom Boom” Bautista who tipped the scales at exactly 126 pounds and vowed to prove his earlier boast that Mexican fighters are better than Filipinos.

Both Barrera and Pipino Cuevas Jr, son of the former WBA welterweight champion Pipino Cuevas who successfully defended his title eleven times before losing by a second round TKO to Tommy “The Hitman” Hearns appeared pleased that Antonio Margarito had been given  a license to fight Manny Pacquiao in Dallas, Texas on November 13.

However they said Pacquiao was “too fast and too good for Margarito’ but that as Mexicans they would support  Margarito.

Fight fans crowded around the fighters and cheered every time they faced-off in front of the cameras with the biggest cheer reserved for Jaca and Cuevas who planted their fists on each others jaw as though ready to get in on right then and there.