By Miguel Rivera
Three of the best fighters in the history Mexico - Juan Manuel Marquez, Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales - gave quick opinions to ESPN Deportes regarding the ongoing negotiations for a May 2nd showdown between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao.
Marquez is the only fighter of three who faced both men. He fought Pacquiao four times, going to a draw, losing two controversial decisions and knocking the Filipino out cold in their 2012 clash. Against Mayweather he was dominated over twelve. Morales won a decision over Pacquiao in the first fight and was knocked out in the next two meetings. Barrera lost to Pacquiao the first time by knockout and lost a decision in the rematch.
Barrera: "There seems to be so much secrecy that the only thing we can get from that is... first, the fight has already been agreed to and they are using these scenarios such as the [fight being announced during the] Super Bowl or the NBA All Star Game to get free advertising or the other hand they simply keep putting things off because the fight is difficult to sign."
Marquez: "If they do it in May, I think there is no time for promotion and other stuff that you have to do. And there are not [major things] but these things take time, photos, videos, interviews, spending time with sponsors - and will they have time to do everything?"
Morales: "In Mayweather's case, people are always going to be pointing out the fact [that they didn't fight], so he better take it because despite what he thinks - the fans always going to remember that he didn't fight with Pacquiao."