Thursday, September 27, 2007 Barrera blasts Roach By Charles Raymond A. Maxey
MARCO Antonio Barrera hurled the first jab with still 10 days to go before his scheduled showdown with Manny Pacquiao, and it's Freddie Roach, not the Filipino boxer, who was the recipient of the verbal blast.
Barrera, in an interview with Fightnews.com, lashed out at Pacquiao's famed American trainer for accusing him of wrapping his hand illegally during fights.
"He (Roach) shouldn't be worrying about me; he should be worrying about Manny Pacquiao. Worry about your own guy," Barrera told Fightnews.com.
"This isn't the first time I've fought in Vegas. I've fought in Vegas a lot of times and I've never had problems with my wrap. Everything's been great," Barrera added.
Roach had earlier threatened to have Barrera's hands checked when he fights Pacquiao in a 12-round super featherweight rematch on October at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Roach even said he will inform the Nevada State Athletic Commission about this.
This irked Barrera, who spewed venom on Roach and even questioned the trainer's ability.
"You know what? Freddie's not a good trainer. Look what he did to Oscar; he helped Oscar lose. Look what he did to Israel Vazquez; Vazquez got knocked out. He's not a very good trainer and he should worry about Manny Pacquiao," Barrera said.
The Mexican warrior got knocked out by Pacquiao in the 11th round the first time the two fighters met back in 2003, but has vowed to come up with a better performance this time around.
"My preparation was really bad for the first fight," he revealed. "This fight I feel really good and really confident," Barrera told Fightnews.com.
Meanwhile, the two promoters who are co-staging the fight--Oscar dela Hoya and Bob Arum--acknowledged that should Pacquiao prevail over Barrera in the Oct. 6 meeting, the Filipino should dislodge Floyd Mayweather Jr. as the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world.
