GUADALAJARA, MEXICO (September 20, 2007) — Only 16 days remain until three-division world boxing champions MARCO ANTONIO BARRERA and MANNY PACQUIAO square-off against each other in the main event of “Will to Win!” — the October 6 pay-per-view extravaganza at Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino. For Barrera, already a Hall of Fame shoo-in, the 12-round super featherweight rumble against Pacquiao, the reigning “Fighter of the Year, ” cannot come soon enough. It is a fight he has longed for since their first encounter on November 15, 2003.
“Manny Pacquiao has been an ugly painful thorn in my side for nearly four years,” said a determined Barrera from his secluded high altitude training camp in Mexico. “There hasn’t been a day since our first fight that I haven’t thought of Pacquiao and what I would do to him if we ever fought again.”
“These past four years have been torture for me as Pacquiao has done everything he could to avoid me. But once we signed the contracts to fight, I have done nothing else but eat, drink and dream of Manny Pacquiao.
Throughout this training camp Manny Pacquiao has been the only thing I’ve thought of, morning, noon and night. I have never been so focused on an opponent in my entire career. I have poured everything I have into this training camp and there isn’t a thing Manny Pacquiao or his trainer Freddie Roach can do to escape my fury on October 6.
“Tell Freddie Roach that secret tapes of my training and so-called secret weapons like ‘The Marco Bolo’ or ‘Manila Ice’ cannot stop a Marco Antonio Barrera who is on a mission. I am consumed by this fight. I am finally going to rid myself of a thorn I have had in my side for nearly four years…Manny Pacquiao. As I said before, this goes beyond being personal. For me, this fight is about restoring national pride. Vengeance will be mine!”
Dubbed “Republica Enemy No. 1,” Pacquiao has blitzed through the best fighters Mexico has had to offer since 2003, including Erik Morales (KO 3, TKO 10), Barrera (TKO 11), Oscar Larios (W 12), Emanuel Lucero (TKO 3), Hector Velazquez (TKO 6) and Jorge Solis (KO 8). The only “blemish” was a disputed draw against Juan Manuel Marquez in 2004, where Pacquiao sent Marquez to the canvas three times in the first round.
Pacquiao (44-3-2, 35 KOs), from General Santos City, The Philippines and Barrera (63-5, 42 KOs), from Guadalajara, Mexico, rumble Saturday, October 6 at Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino. Promoted by Golden Boy Promotions and Top Rank, in association with MP Promotions, Pacquiao-Barrera will be produced and distributed Live by HBO Pay-Per-View. beginning at 9 P.M. ET / 6 P.M. PT.
Remaining boxing tickets are priced at $600, $400, $300, $200 and $100. They can be purchased at the Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino box office and all Las Vegas Ticketmaster locations (Smith’s Food and Drug Centers, Macy’s stores and Ritmo Latino). To charge by phone with a major credit card, call the Mandalay Bay box office at (702) 632-7580 or Ticketmaster at (702) 474-4000. Tickets also are available for purchase at www.mandalaybay.com or www.ticketmaster.com.