INQUIRER Sports

MANILA, Philippines -- Undefeated Venezuelan Edwin Valero has repeated his challenge to battle Manny Pacquiao anywhere -- except in the United States which has refused to grant him a fight license for failing a medical test.

A day after former three-division champion Marco Antonio Barrera picked Valero as the next man who could defeat Pacquiao, the World Boxing Association super featherweight champion again declared his intention to fight the Filipino southpaw, according to the website www.philboxing.com.

Valero’s handlers said the fight could be held either in Manila, Tokyo or Macau.

Barrera made the prediction after losing to Pacquiao via a unanimous decision in their rematch in October 2007 in Las Vegas.

Valero issued his first challenge to Pacquiao in January 2007 after downing Michael Lozada in just over a minute. The Filipino laughed off Valero’s statements, saying his past victims were mere tricycle drivers.

Pacquiao is slated to battle Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez for the second time on March 15, at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Their first meeting four years ago ended in a split draw.

Valero’s 23 wins were all by knockouts, 19 them in the first round. He defended his title for the third time over Panama’s Vicente Mosquera, winning by a 10th-round TKO on Aug. 5, 2006.

Two things, however, stand in the way of Valero’s wish to fight Pacquiao: He is not popular and the US refuses to grant him a license.

The New York Commission likewise refused to accept the findings of Valero’s doctor that all is well after the fighter figured in a motorcycle accident on Feb. 5 2001. The mishap resulted in a fractured skull and Valero was operated on to remove a cranial blood clot.

In 2004, his supposed appearance at a Golden Boy Promotions card was ditched when he failed a brain scan test and was not issued a US license. Romina S. Austria