Barrera stone-faced as flag drape falls

Alejandro “Zorrito” Barrera, a cousin of Mexican legend Marco Antonio Barrera, showed no emotion after an embarrassing incident during Friday’s official weigh-in for the “Philippines vs The World” blockbuster fight card today at the Waterfront Hotel and Casino in Cebu.   Barrera was half-a-pound over the stipulated featherweight limit of 126 pounds and decided to strip completely to make the weight with only a large Mexican flag wrapped around him.   But as Barrera prepared to step onto the scales, the flag fell and trainer Edito “Ala” Villamor and  Mexican Mike Lopez, who lives in Cebu and was holding one end of the flag, quickly scurried to cover him up.   The women and men in the big crowd that attended the proceedings screamed in surprise at what they saw, however.   Barrera remained stone-faced through it all. He stared down at opponent Rey “Boom Boom” Bautista, who tipped the scales at exactly 126 pounds, and vowed to prove his earlier boast that Mexican fighters are better than Filipinos.   Both Barrera and Pipino Cuevas Jr, son of the former WBA welterweight champion Pipino Cuevas who successfully defended his title eleven times before losing by a second round TKO to Tommy “The Hitman” Hearns, later said they’re
pleased that Antonio Margarito had been given  a license to fight Manny Pacquiao in Dallas, Texas on Nov. 13.   However they said Pacquiao was “too fast and too good for Margarito’ but that as Mexicans they would support  Margarito.   Cuevas will fight Jimrex Jaca in the other main bout in the card.