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Barrera deserves a chance against Pacquiao — Roach
By nick giongco
ONE OF the first few things that boxing manager Shelly Finkel will do upon his return to the US would be to put the pressure on Erik Morales’ promotional outfit Top Rank Inc. so he can immediately start negotiations with Golden Boy Promotions (GBP), which handles Marco Antonio Barrera.
You see, Morales has been calling out Manny Pacquiao’s name and relaying his desire to engage the Filipino southpaw in a rubber match sometime in October or November.
Morales has been insisting that he will not fight Pacquiao at 132 lbs since he can no longer get down to that weight.
The problem is that Pacquiao has also made it clear that for a third fight to take place, it should be at 130 lbs as this was stipulated in the contract.
Enter Finkel, who echoed Pacquiao’s stand that Morales cannot have his way.
"We have a contract with Morales to fight Manny at 130, and we’ll honor it. But if he doesn’t want to fight at 130, we’ll go to Barrera," said Finkel, who flew out of Manila late Saturday night alongside another Pacquiao co-manager Nicholas Khan.
"When I get back, I will work on it right away," added Finkel.
Finkel, Khan and trainer Freddie Roach arrived in the country Thursday morning. Roach is expected to head back to Los Angeles on Tuesday night.
GBP has already reserved the MGM Grand for Nov. 4 and is just awaiting word from Pacquiao.
Roach said there’s no problem facing Morales again, but in the event it does not happen, there’s Barrera to look forward to.
"Barrera deserves a chance because after losing to Manny (in Nov. 2003 in Texas), he has added a few impressive wins," said Roach.
Pacquiao is booked to meet Oscar Larios of Mexico on July 2 at the Araneta Coliseum, a fight that the Filipino’s entourage will tune him up for either Morales or Barrera before the year comes to a close.
By nick giongco
ONE OF the first few things that boxing manager Shelly Finkel will do upon his return to the US would be to put the pressure on Erik Morales’ promotional outfit Top Rank Inc. so he can immediately start negotiations with Golden Boy Promotions (GBP), which handles Marco Antonio Barrera.
You see, Morales has been calling out Manny Pacquiao’s name and relaying his desire to engage the Filipino southpaw in a rubber match sometime in October or November.
Morales has been insisting that he will not fight Pacquiao at 132 lbs since he can no longer get down to that weight.
The problem is that Pacquiao has also made it clear that for a third fight to take place, it should be at 130 lbs as this was stipulated in the contract.
Enter Finkel, who echoed Pacquiao’s stand that Morales cannot have his way.
"We have a contract with Morales to fight Manny at 130, and we’ll honor it. But if he doesn’t want to fight at 130, we’ll go to Barrera," said Finkel, who flew out of Manila late Saturday night alongside another Pacquiao co-manager Nicholas Khan.
"When I get back, I will work on it right away," added Finkel.
Finkel, Khan and trainer Freddie Roach arrived in the country Thursday morning. Roach is expected to head back to Los Angeles on Tuesday night.
GBP has already reserved the MGM Grand for Nov. 4 and is just awaiting word from Pacquiao.
Roach said there’s no problem facing Morales again, but in the event it does not happen, there’s Barrera to look forward to.
"Barrera deserves a chance because after losing to Manny (in Nov. 2003 in Texas), he has added a few impressive wins," said Roach.
Pacquiao is booked to meet Oscar Larios of Mexico on July 2 at the Araneta Coliseum, a fight that the Filipino’s entourage will tune him up for either Morales or Barrera before the year comes to a close.
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