After Top Rank’s Bob Arum’s announcement that Pacquiao and his trainer Freddie Roach initially approved the fight against Dominican Republic’s and WBO super-featherweight champion Joan Guzman, the names Marco Antonio Barrera and Edwin Valero are still the options.
“If I were to decide for Pacquiao, I would rather choose to fight Barrera,” Cebuano boxing impresario and Pacquiao confidant Rex “Wakee” Salud told Sun.Star Cebu yesterday.
Report posted at philboxing.com quoted Roach saying Valero might fight Pacquiao in Macau, China.
“Against Guzman or Valero, Pacquiao is staking a lot. He is staking his popularity and he is staking his future for a small amount of money. Against Barrera, Pacquiao has ‘an easy’ fight to go with a bigger purse and a popularity boost,” Salud added.
Salud will fly to the US on Wednesday to join Pacquiao in his awarding rite as the Boxer of the Year by the Boxing Writers Association of America in New York on June 8.
Salud added that fighting Barrera and WBC super-featherweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez would earn Pacquiao a legend status and could allow him to retire early.
Barrera, for his part, is very eager to fight Pacquiao in his farewell fight and has pressured the Golden Boy Promotion to grant him that final wish.
“Fighting against Guzman, Humberto Soto and Valero is a dangerous move with only a little take-home pay. But against Barrera and Marquez, it’s a big payday his futures are all secured and he will earn his status as a boxing legend,” stressed Salud.
Reportedly GBP chief executive officer Richard Schaefer is doing his best to pull Pacquiao to their side just as the legal battle with Top Rank that has to be resolved at the court stands still.
Arum, on the other hand, is willing to negotiate with GBP to pit Pacquiao against their fighters.
“We’ll just see what will the decision of Manny. Arum has no big-time opponent to fight against him because the marquee fighters are with Golden Boy, I just hope the decision of Manny whom to fight would boost his low morale following his electoral defeat,” Salud said. (RCM)
