Pacquiao may yet go up versus Ayala

After keeping Freddie Roach into its fold, Team Pacquiao is now seriously considering the American mentor’s suggestion for Manny Pacquiao to fight Paulie Ayala first before taking on Juan Manuel Marquez in a megabuck battle of featherweight champs.

In an interview with Boxingscene.com, Rod Nazario, Pacquiao’s business manager, said the Ayala option will be in the agenda when Team Pacquiao meets with controversial US promoter Murad Muhammad and HBO bigwigs in New York next week to discuss Pacquiao’s next fight and opponent.

Nazario and Pacquiao are slated to leave for the US on Jan. 15.

Team Pacquiao is also set to call on Top Rank president Bob Arum, who handles both Ayala and Marquez, although the meeting could be reset following reports that FBI agents turned up Tuesday evening and raided the Top Rank offices in Las Vegas. (See related story on A-23.)

Roach, who transformed Pacquiao into a top-notch fighter in that masterful 11th round knockout of Mexican legend Marco Antonio Barrera, had earlier said that the best opponent for the Filiipino champion at this stage would be Ayala, who like Pacquiao is a southpaw.

But unlike the General Santos native, who boasts of 30 stoppages in a 38-2-1 (win-loss-draw) record, the 33-year-old Ayala has only 12 knockouts in a 35-2 fight mark, which observers note indicates the American’s lack of punching power.

Still, it would be a fight to watch since the 5-foot-4 Ayala, who decisioned Edel Ruiz last November, is listed as crafty and skillful boxer. Ayala earlier lost to Erik Morales in a featherweight title fight.

"This is the time to take him (Ayala) because he may be going down and Manny will be the first fighter to knock him out," Roach said in a previous interview.

Roach is currently enmeshed in a verbal war with Muhammad following his scathing remarks against the promoter, who the other day got back at the astute trainer whom he wanted to be bundled out of Team Pacquiao.

But Pacquiao, 25, had reiterated his desire to keep the bespectacled Roach in the team at all costs while admitting that Murad is the problem for his woes over money matters.

In beating Barrera, Pacquiao only received $305,000 out of the $700,000 purse due him although the Filipino champion had wanted to bury the hatchet and move on in his continuing search for boxing excellence on the global stage.

If he gets past Ayala, Pacquiao is eyeing a clash with Marquez, who at 30 packs a record of 42-2 with 33 KO’s. The Mexican, who won his last fight via a seventh round technical decision over Derrick Gainer in a lopsided bout, also last November, stands 5’7" which experts believe would give him a two-inch height advantage over Pacquiao.