Is Larios ready for Pacman?

Oscar Larios of Mexico, who fights Filipino world champion Manny Pacquiao on July 2 at the Araneta Coliseum, yesterday stepped up his training at Tokyo’s Teiken gym and appeared in good shape although a bit overweight for their stipulated l30 lb. fight for the World Boxing Council international super-featherweight crown.

Since arriving from Mexico a week ago, Larios has already sparred, among others, with 122-pounder Toshiaki Nishioka and WBC bantam champion Hozumi Hasegawa, a southpaw like Pacman, for four rounds each.

Hasegawa is girding up for his title showdown with Genaro Garcia on July 15, also in Japan.

Both challengers showed toughness with Larios boxing relentlessly and Hasegawa scoring with punches to the native of Guadalajara as the Mexican retaliated with sharp combinations using his height and longer reach. They traded punches with gusto to the delight of a small group of visitors at Teiken.

Larios’ trainer Edison Reynoso said manager Rafael Mendoza was right in bringing their ward to Japan because there are not many excellent southpaws in Mexico, which usually does not produce converted southpaws, but makes natural lefties fight as they are.

Reynoso said his fighter presently weighs about 130.25 lbs. which is a quarter of a pound over the stipulated weight of l30 lbs. for his challenge against Pacquiao.

The 29-year-old Larios will be the fifth straight Mexican fighter to fight Pacman, the Filipino who’s getting tagged as the "annihilator" of Mexican warriors, with no less than Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera, among them.

Observers were of the opinion that when Morales fought the Filipino, the Mexican was a hands-down favorite last January and for good reason. Morales had defeated the Filipino in their first meeting on March 19, 2005. After bowing out to Zahir Raheem on September 2005 and losing to Barrera the year before in 2004, Morales was expected to bounce back and crush Pacquiao the second time.

Raheem’s victory over Morales was called a "fluke" and Erik’s three earlier fights with Barrera were always close and that any of the fights could have gone either way, observers believe.

So when the rematch shaped up between Erik and Manny, the defeat of the Filipino challenger has been predicted.

But Pacman did the unthinkable, sending down Erik to the canvas for the first time in his illustrious career and bringing him into submission, with many saying "Erik is old and should retire."

Barrera, the observers also said, was best in the division, when he fought the Filipino icon. He was at the top of his game and Pacquiao was given little or no chance to break the winning skein of Barrera.

But after Pacquiao showed the power of both his hands, the reaction of the fans was Barrera had already reached the zenith of his career and he should retire.

Now that Larios’ time has come to challenge Pacquiao, can he overcome the Pacman? There are apprehensions from the observers who said the Mexican will be hardpressed to overcome the strength of the Filipino destroyer.

Their final verdict – the training of Pacquiao at the Wild Card in Los Angeles and by Larios at the Teiken gym in Tokyo will definitely spell the difference.