Barrera must wait in line

It’s not often that a world boxing champion issues a challenge to his No. 1 contender for a fight. What usually happens is the No. 1 contender challenges the champion.

But World Boxing Council (WBC) superfeatherweight titlist Marco Antonio Barrera broke tradition by publicly challenging No. 1 contender Manny Pacquiao to a rematch in a mandatory defense.

No less than WBC president Jose Sulaiman is pushing for the rematch. Call it a Mexican conspiracy if you want but that’s what it looks like.

To signify his intentions, Barrera went the WBC route and prompted Sulaiman to issue a letter–dated last March 6 and addressed to Pacquiao, manager Shelly Finkel, promoter Gary Shaw and Games and Amusements Board chairman Eric Buhain–stipulating a seven-day period within which to register a reaction.

Sulaiman said he’s ready to give his blessings for a rematch with Barrera’s title on the line.

"I sincerely hope that you will fight next for the WBC championship which was the first world championship that you ever held at the beginning of your brilliant boxing career," Sulaiman told Pacquiao.

Barrera, 32, is desperate to land a big-money fight–or any fight for that matter–as his March 25 bout against WBC lightweight king Jesus Chavez has been scrapped. Chavez recently injured his left bicep muscle in training and has pulled out of his defense against Barrera who would’ve gone up in weight to seek his third world crown in as many classes.

With Chavez out of the picture, Barrera even considered taking on Pacquaio’s brother Bobby. For a while, that seemed to be an interesting proposition even from Pacquiao’s standpoint.

"A rematch between Manny and Barrera will definitely happen because it’s something the fans want," said a Pacquiao insider. "But that’s not in the plans this year. Maybe, next March after Manny does a tune-up in Manila and takes care of (Erik) Morales before the year ends. If Bobby fights Barrera and loses, it will set up the stage for Manny to try to avenge his brother’s loss. That will add drama to the rematch. If Bobby wins, then Barrera is finished."

But negotiations for a Barrera fight against Bobby never went to first base.

"Bobby was paid $90,000 to fight (former world champion) Carlos Hernandez whom he beat last year so if Barrera wants him, he should be ready to pay Bobby not less than $90,000," said another Pacquiao insider.

Apparently, Golden Boy Promotions, which represents Barrera, wasn’t prepared to make a six-figure offer to Bobby.

A rematch between Bobby and Hernandez was in the works but it’s on hold, for some reason. Bobby, now the WBC’s No. 11 superfeatherweight contender, may wind up seeing action in the undercard of Manny’s main event here in June or July.

Pacquiao–Manny, that is–isn’t about to disrupt his plans for the year to accommodate Barrera. He’s too smart to fall into Barrera’s trap. At the moment, Barrera is close to fight-shape–he’d been in serious training for Chavez–while Pacquiao has yet to hit the gym after demolishing Morales last January.

Because of his rousing win over Morales, Pacquiao is in a position where he can dictate the terms for his fights. He’s become bigger than the championship itself. When he faced Morales in their rematch, there was no "major" crown at stake. But the fight still drew a packed house at the Thomas and Mack Center and over 350,000 pay-per-view buys. That only means it’s the fight that sells tickets, regardless of what title–if any–is on the line.

Pacquiao shouldn’t bow to pressure from the WBC to dance to Barrera’s music. He’s the No. 1 contender and he’ll fight Barrera when he’s good and ready.

Right now, Pacquiao’s problem is to find a suitable tune-up opponent for the Araneta Coliseum fight that ABS-CBN is airing on a global basis in June or July. Former world superbantamweight titlist Oscar Larios has backed out of the tiff, supposedly because HBO is not involved.

Larios should re-examine his conscience before using HBO as an excuse. Nobody likes a liar. If he’s scared of Pacquaio, he should admit it like a man–even if it would mean, ironically, he’s less than a man by admitting it. But I suspect the real reason is since Larios belongs to the Golden Boy stable, he’s just stepping aside for Barrera to make his play.

If Larios isn’t available, someone suggested bringing in former International Boxing Federation lightweight champion Javier Jauregui, now the WBC No. 3 superfeatherweight contender after Pacquiao and Morales. Jauregui waltzed to a win by majority decision over Filipino Randy Suico last year and is a dangerous opponent for Pacquiao because of his sleek style. On paper, he could do to Pacquiao what Zahir Raheem did to Morales.

Pacquiao has signed a contract for the tune-up fight with ABS-CBN so there’s no backing out of it. He has also committed to face Morales in a rubber match before the year ends.

Morales’ promoter Bob Arum said the third match is slated for Sept. 16 in a Las Vegas football stadium that sits 26,000 spectators. But a source said that depends on whether Morales will have fully recovered from the injuries he suffered in the Pacquiao rematch. Morales insiders insist he wasn’t badly hurt but a source said his right eye was slightly dislodged from its orbital socket and his right cheekbone was broken.

What this means is Barrera must wait in line for Pacquiao. Sure, Barrera’s the champion but whether he likes it or not, Pacquiao’s the man of the moment.