HAVING acquitted himself quite well against American World Boxing Council welterweight king Mario Barrios, who eked out a controversial majority draw over the weekend to retain his crown, Manny Pacquiao could be up against another young stud next in World Boxing Association titleholder Rolly Romero.
MP Promotions chief and veteran promoter Sean Gibbons, who handles all of Pacman’s fights, told ABC News in an interview posted on its official YouTube Channel after the Pacquiao-Barrios clash that he was lukewarm about a rematch against “Le Azteca.”
“You know, I like Mario Barrios but there’s not a lot of excitement to him,” noted the experienced ring impresario after the tentative, bland and plodding performance of the San Antonio, Texas native versus his boss in front of a sellout crowd at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas.
“But I see a lot of people clamoring for this guy,” he said, flashing pictures of Pacquiao and the colorful Las Vegas-born WBA champion side by side on his cell phone.
“This could be in store,” said Gibbons, who was looking either at November or December for Pacman’s next fight.
Sporting a record of 17 wins, 13 by knockout, against two losses, Romero, 29, outboxed compatriot Ryan Garcia on the way to a unanimous decision win to claim the WBA welterweight title last May 2 at the fabled Times Square in New York City.
The orthodox fighter, who stands two inches taller than Pacquiao at 5-foot-8, hasn’t fought since winning the crown and is promoted by Golden Boy Promotions of Oscar de la Hoya.
Gibbons said the outcome of the Pacquiao-Barrios bout was something of a letdown because “I was amazed that after three or four rounds, I thought Manny was in a time warp. He put on an amazing clinic. I saw him winning eight rounds. I don’t know what the judges saw.
“If Manny Pacquiao lost clearly, we would accept that. But the guy was making history. At 46, he was coming with seven weeks of training against a 30-year-old Barrios who was beating the s…. out of other guys.
“I didn’t see Barrios stepping into Manny many times so it was sort of a bummer.”
In a separate interview with Boxing News, he said that Pacquiao “was still good enough to beat these guys who are 30 years old, beat these champions. Definitely, he has one or two fights more left in him.”
