Call It Karma

The year 2007 appears to be not the year for the Pacman.

With the Barrera-Marquez conclusion last Saturday and Marquez unanimously winning it over Barrera, it seems that the fight was far from over and talks about Barrera finally hanging his gloves for retirement was deemed false. Well, not this year to say the least.

Manny Pacquiao was eagerly awaiting the winner between the two, hoping that he will sign another big contract fight later this year. He is billed to exchange punches with highly acclaim but unknown fighter Jorge Solis on April 14 in the Alamodome, San Antonio.

As he literally expressed that he want to fight whoever emerges as the winner, he may have to wait until September 15 or even longer. A Barrera-Marquez rematch has already been declared putting the WBC International Superfeatherweight champion on queue.

Some analysts even figured the Barrera-Marquez rematch to be the Fight of the Year. Pacman is obviously out of the picture.

It can be recalled last year, Manny was tiptoeing with Golden Boy Promotions in its attempt to lure the boxer to sign with them. GBP claimed that Pacquiao have agreed for a seven-fight contract but this was made prior the Morales-Pacquiao rematch. It turned out Pacquiao can not sign with any other promoter not until November fight was over. Later on, Pacquiao has renewed his contract with Top Rank with a four-year deal. Both camps are now on a legal dispute as to who has the legal right to promote Pacquiao.

Pacman may be the best pound-for-pound boxer, but with the rematch and Pacquiao fighting a nondescript boxer—that could definitely spur a monumental loss if ever Pacquiao gets KOd—the superfeatherweight division clearly belongs to the Mexican.

Karma? You tell me.

If he wins over Solis, there seems to be no other fighter to pair against Manny that could mount an equivalent popularity with that of Pacquiao-Morales trilogy. I doubt that even knockout sensation Edwin Valero could pull this one out.

With that, well, Manny can at least focus on fighting another battle, the GenSan congressional elections.