By Ronnie Nathanielsz
Filipino ring idol and national treasure Manny Pacquiao said yesterday "I willl promote my next fight which will be a tune-up fight" prior to a possible third fight with legendary Mexican Erik "El Terrible" Morales or a much-awaited rematch with WBC super featherweight champion Marco Antonio Barrera.
Pacquiao told Viva Sports/Manila Standard Today that he was looking at possible opponents including former super bantamweight champion Oscar Larios who had always said he wanted a crack at Pacquiao or former IBF super featherweight champion Javier Jauregui . However, Pacquiao said no definite opponent had been decided upon.
Larios fights at 126 pounds and in fact lost in a WBC super bantamweight title fight to Israel Vasquez, a sparring partner of Pacquiao by a third round TKO last December 3. Jauregui on the other hand won by a fourth round TKO over Jose Quintana last December 16 after earlier scoring a controversial majority decision over OPBF super featherweight champion Randy Suico.
Pacquiao said he was "looking at late May or early June" as a possible fight date amidst indications that San Miguel Corporation with whom he signed a megabuck partnership deal yesterday would be a major partner in the venture.
A news release by San Miguel after the signing yesterday stated that SMC "will support Pacquiao’s next international boxing matches" aside from providing him with life insurance and producing boxing clinic videos to promote boxing as a sport.
Pacquiao’s electrifying tenth round annihilation of Morales in a rematch after he lost their first encounter because of a nasty gash in the fifth round that badly hampered his vision, continues to be the highpoint of his career. His November 2003 eleventh round annihilation of Barrera is considered a defining moment.
Pacquiao insisted that he would not agree to fight Morales at 132 pounds because that would be giving his opponent a huge advantage since he is already bigger than him. At the same time Pacquiao hinted that by demanding they fight at 132 pounds and knowing that Pacquiao would refuse the Morales camp was looking for a way out from fighting Pacquiao because they knew Morales didn’t stand a chance after his last bad beating.
