‘Pacman erred in picking me’

Marco Antonio Barrera said Manny Pacquiao might have made a big mistake in choosing the 33-year-old warrior from Mexico as his next opponent.

“Pacquiao should have been more careful for what he wished for because he is going to be in the fight of his life,” Barrera was quoted in an Internet report yesterday.

Floyd Mayweather, considered as the best pound-for-pound boxer today, is technically retired, leaving the 28-year-old Filipino as the next best thing in boxing.

But Barrera, who lost to Pacquiao in 11 rounds when they first met in 2003 in San Antonio, Texas, is not about to hand that distinction to the Filipino on a silver platter.

“The battle is on and I am leaving the ring as boxing’s new pound-for-pound fighter,” added Barrera of his Oct. 6 rematch with Pacquiao at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.

He said the coming fight will be a decisive one.

“Pacquiao and I have one thing in common and that is this is the fight we have most wanted,” said Barrera, who was in Acapulco last month, staying in shape by running on the beach and working out in a gym.

Barrera, who lost the WBC super-featherweight crown to Juan Manuel Marquez last March, should be in Gudalajara by this time, but is seriously considering the Big Bear Camp in California as his training headquarters.

Pacquiao, meanwhile, has postponed his trip to the US four times over the last month. He had planned to start training at the Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles by Aug. 1.

But it didn’t happen. Instead, he is now scheduled to fly to the US on Sunday with trainers Buboy Fernandez and Nonoy Neri, and counsel Franklin Gacal.

Despite a very hectic schedule, shooting a film, recording new songs, doing commercials and playing billiards or poker, Pacquiao said he has managed to stay in shape by playing basketball and watching his diet.

His American trainer, Freddie Roach, is not alarmed with the short delay in training. Not yet.

“He is supposed to be here on the 4th (of August). If he gets any later than that then I will start to worry. We have seven weeks if he comes on the 4th so we’ll be okay,” Roach told philboxing.com.