NOT only is Marco Antonio Barrera a dangerous foe for Manny Pacquiao. The Filipino boxing icon even considers the Mexican warrior as his toughest opponent ever.

In a telephone interview with BusinessMirror, the 28-year-old Pacquiao (44-3-2, 35 KOs) declared his readiness to prepare for the upcoming battle with Barrera as if the bout will be the defining moment of his career.

“Si Barrera pa din ang pinakamahirap kong laban. Ang alam ng marami pinakamahirap kong laban si [Erik] Morales. Mas malakas at magaling pa din si Barrera,” said Pacquiao.

On November 2003 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, Pacquiao, then a heavy underdog, pulled the rug from under Barrera, who back then was considered the “People’s Champion” of the featherweight division.

Pacquiao battered Barrera from pillar to post until the Mexican’s corner came to the rescue and entered the ring in the 11th round, signaling the start of the Filipino’s rise to stardom.

The Pacquiao-Barrera rematch became official after warring outfits Golden Boy Promotions (GBP) and Top Rank Inc. reached a settlement on an assortment of legal disputes regarding Pacquiao’s promotional deal.

Under the agreement, bouts between Pacquiao and marquee fighters under contract to Golden Boy will be copromoted by GBP and Top Rank, while fights between Pacquiao against fighters other than Golden Boy fighters will be promoted by Top Rank with Golden Boy retaining a promotional interest.

The first fight, which will be presented under this arrangement, will be the Pacquiao vs. Barrera on October 6 at Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

The arrangement will also line up several multimillion-dollar fights for Pacquiao, namely GBP fighters such as World Boxing Council super-featherweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez, World Boxing Organization kingpin Joan Guzman, World Boxing Association (WBA) ruler Edwin Valero and Top Rank fighter Humberto Soto.

American trainer Freddie Roach, also contacted yesterday by BusinessMirror, is confident Pacquiao will win the rematch against Barrera, but only if the Filipino superstar will prepare well for the bout. “No doubt, Manny will beat Barrera. But Manny needs to prepare really hard for this fight,” said Roach in an overseas telephone interview. “If Manny’s 100 percent, Barrera won’t last.”

The 30-year-old Barrera (63-5, 42 KOs) lost his WBC super-featherweight crown to Marquez via 12-round decision last March in Las Vegas.

On Saturday, BusinessMirror got a call from Los Angeles to confirm the story the paper has been consistently and factually reporting the last couple of weeks.

“It’s now official, Top Rank and Golden Goy Promotions have agreed to work hand in hand in promoting some of the biggest fights the sport will produce in the coming years,” said the Filipino source in Los Angeles just a few minutes before the official media release came out.

The announcement was finalized late last week but not after the court approved a draft of the copy to be distributed to the media.

“The court made sure that everything is well thought-out. But the court was aware that even with the gag order, there are those capable of digging up information from personalities involved,” said the source, who prefers not to be named at the moment.

Both GBP and Top Rank Inc. credited the retired judge who worked as the mediator of a case many thought will end up being litigated by the court.

It turned out that former San Francisco Superior Court Judge Daniel Weinstein, named one of the Power Mediators of 2007, was the key for both entities to enter into a promotional breakthrough.

Weinstein is considered as one of America’s preeminent mediators of complex civil disputes and a pioneer in the development of mediation. His expertise includes designing and resolving complex, multiparty, high-stakes cases.

Some of the cases Weinstein successfully mediated were those of Enron, Qwest, Providian, Homestore and other major New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and Nasdaq firms.

Also part of his impressive record were disputes involving Apple Computer, Intel, Microsoft, Oracle, Motorola and Hewlett Packard and actions concerning price-fixing allegations against multinational oil and cosmetic industry companies and major financial institutions.

In 1998, Weinstein was named US representative to the Bosnian Privatization Commission, overseeing the transfer of $15 billion of state-owned assets to citizens of Bosnia. 

LUCKY 7?

THE ancient Babylonians honored seven sacred planets. The Bible says God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh day. The Lord’s Prayer consists of seven petitions.

Aces are in ‘Fiesta’ finals

REYNEL HUGNATAN made two crucial free throws with 53 seconds remaining in the second overtime and the Alaska Aces knocked the San Miguel Beermen, 113-109, in Game Six of their semifinal series last night and advanced to the Finals of the 2007 Talk ’N Text-Philippine Basketball Association Fiesta Conference at the Araneta Coliseum.

NOT only is Marco Antonio Barrera a dangerous foe for Manny Pacquiao. The Filipino boxing icon even considers the Mexican warrior as his toughest opponent ever.

Jenny Lee won the NSW Amateur Championship but not without a worthy challenge put up by former Philippine national team member, now an Australian citizen, Frances Bondad on Saturday.

Frankie Miñoza failed to sustain a third straight subpar round and came up with an unimpressive three-over-par 73 in the third but remained in the hunt, or at least a top-five finish, in the ¥130-million UBS Japan Golf Tour Championship in Ibaraki outside of Tokyo.

ENGLAND is credited with inventing football. Curiously, when you think of the beautiful game, chances are the first thing that will come to mind are the Brazilians who have dominated the sport.