By Ronnie Nathanielsz
Ring Magazine featherweight champion Manny Pacquiao is ready to sign his fight contracts for a February 26 rematch with WBA/IBF champion Juan Manuel Marquez and a tentative July 30 showdown with former super featherweight champion Erik “El Terrible” Morales. Pacquiao invited his business manager Rod Nazario to fly to his hometown of General Santos City on the eve of his 26th birthday celebration on December 17 and to
bring the agreement along so he could seal the deal negotiated earlier by international promoter Murad Muhammad with HBO Sports.
In a long distance telephone conversation with Viva Sports/Manila Standard while resting in his room watching television, Pacquiao said he realized the importance of the rematch with Marquez who has already begun training at an altitude of 10,000b feet in order to strengthen his condition following the three knockdowns he suffered against Pacquiao in the opening round last May and said he would leave for Freddie Roach’s Wild Card gym shortly after spending the New Year with his family. There was concern among the members of Team Pacquiao that he may want to remain in General Santos City until after his wife Jinkee’s birtday on January 11 but Pacquiao indicated he could not afford to, since trainer Freddie Roach wanted him to leave the day after Christmas if possible.
Prior to his departure Monday night, Roach expressed the hope that Pacquiao will “stay a little more disciplined because he has a big fight ahead of him and Marquez is training already and he better get in shape too. Marquez is serious. He knows the first fight was very rough on him and he’s gonna be prepared. He’s a workaholic and a disciplined guy and I hear he doesn’t have too many bad habits and he wants to win.” However, Roach said Pacquiao “has a lot of drive and once you get Manny going, it should be fun.”
Roach insisted that Pacquiao has to get all other distractions out of the way including shooting TV shows, playing pool and staying out late. Roach said “the Marquez fight must be the only thing on his mind because the winner of that fight is going to be the best featherweight in the world and fight Morales and hopefully Marco Antonio Barrera later in the year and whoever wins that little tournament is going to be the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world because that’s the hottest division in boxing right now and there’s a lot of money to be made.”
Roach said Pacquiao “knows what he is up against I hope he’ll do the right thing, enjoy his birthday and Christmas with his family of course but stay in shape.”
Murad Muhammad confirmed that Pacquiao’s purse for the Marquez rematch would be $900,000 which would be around P50 million while the Morales fight could earn Pacquiao a purse of $1.75 million or over P100 million, underscoring just how much is at stake for the flamboyant Filipino southpaw.
