A decision will soon be made about whether or not the scheduled March 14 fight between Amir Khan and Marco Antonio Barrera will go on as scheduled, or if it may be pushed back a couple of weeks. One report said that Barrera needed three stitches after a headbutt from scrubino Freudis Rojas on January 31 in Mexico, but Jorge Barrera (Marco Antonio's brother) says the gash required 14 stitches.
Barrera had this to say about fighting Rojas, who was a last-minute sub for no-show Johnny Nolasco:
"I was uncomfortable with the kind of opponent he was and I respect what they people were shouting [many in attendance shouted "fraud!"]. But this was a fight. So many opponents don't come to fight. They come to lay down. In this case they saw a fight. ... Nobody is guilty of anything here. I'm not and neither are the promoters. There was nothing scripted. They wanted to do something to save the event, and I also wanted to save the event."
The last part is Barrera responding to some in the Mexican press who called the notion of a former multiple time world champion like Barrera fighting a guy with one win and several losses to his credit, "criminal." I'd say it's a crime against boxing fans, and it appears they reacted as such, but it's no crime.
Khan's promoter, Frank Warren, has sold 15,000 tickets at the M.E.N. Arena in Manchester for the fight, which will be a very tough test for the young Khan indeed. Even though Barrera has aged, he still has enough pop to drill Khan, who has been floored by the likes of Willie Limond. At the same time, Khan has the power and offensive firepower to push Barrera back, too. It remains one of my favorite fights on the docket; I'm hoping it won't have to be pushed back, and that if it is, Warren and Don King can still get the U.S. PPV lined up and we'll all have a chance to watch on something better than an internet stream.