Written By Ronnie Nathanielsz
philBoxing.comIt is almost impossible to find one single individual who is prepared to give fading Mexican legend Marco Antonio Barrera a chance against the Philippines’ national treasure Manny Pacquiao in their rematch at the Mandalay Bay Resort Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada on Sunday, Manila Time.
Even broadcaster and manager of world champions Luisito Espinosa and Morris East, Hermie Rivera, has switched sides dramatically since he took a beating when he opined there was no way Pacquiao could beat Barrera in their first meeting on November 15, 2003. Rivera was not just wrong –- he was dead wrong when Pacquiao gave Barrera a merciless beating for eleven rounds before brother Jorge – now his trainer -– jumped into the ring to stop the carnage.
Rivera, like many others, has switched sides and is now profuse in his praise of Pacquiao who, if the experts know what they are talking about, should settle the issue once he feels he has entertained the fans on a worldwide pay-per-view audience and his countrymen on national television enough, and Solar Sports and GMA 7 who have partnered for the “Will to Win†unload enough commercials to hopefully cover their sky high costs.
One of the men steeped in boxing who provided a sound assessment of the fight is WBC president Jose Sulaiman who told Viva Sports/Manila Standard Today in an overseas telephone conversation from his home in Mexico City very matter-of-factly “Pacquiao will knock him out.â€
Sulaiman said that when Barrera was “younger and tougher he couldn’t beat Pacquiao when Pacquiao was green and now that Barrera has announced that this is going to be his last fight, obviously he’s over the hill and Manny is at his prime.â€
The WBC president said he would be “very, very surprised if something else happens†and Barrera wins even as he took refuge in the fact that in boxing “anything can happen†but that he believes Pacquiao has “a great advantage over Barrera.â€
Sulaiman said the only way for Barrera to survive and try and pull off a shocking upset would be to box and “that is what he is going to do. He is not going to exchange punches like the first fight. He will fight the way he fought Rocky Juarez in their rematch because the first time he counter-punched and Juarez beat him clearly but with the judges in Las Vegas, you can never tell.â€
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Topic: Can Barrera Overcome Pacquiao? What is your guess? (Read 869 times)