Michael Farenas to battle ex-Pacquiao foe on March 21

Michael Farenas (37-4-4, 29 knockouts) will continue his march towards another shot at a world title as he takes on a former Manny Pacquiao opponent in Hector Velazquez (56-20-3, 38 KOs) of Mexico on March 21.

The super featherweight fight for the WBC ACBO title will be the main event of the second production of MAG PACMAN Boxing International Promotions, a group headed by Pacquiao, Gerry Penalosa, and businessman/sportsman Anson Tiu-Co.

Farenas was first scheduled to fight Jose Ramirez (25-4-0, 15 KOs), the last fighter to defeat ALA Boxing stable’s  Rey “Boom-boom”  Bautista but the negotiations fell through. The promoters of Farenas then selected the dangerous Miguel Zamudio (26-3-1, 14 KOs) and got his manager to sign a contract. The fight was booked for March 14 and the plane tickets of Zamudio and his crew were bought. However, there was apparently a miscommunication between Zamudio’s manager and his trainer, which forced the fighter to pull out.

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MAG PACMAN moved quickly to search for an opponent who could take the fight in short notice but still give Farenas a really tough fight. Luckily for them, Velazquez was more than willing to fly to the Philippines to battle the hard-punching Farenas.

Back in 2005, Velazquez exchanged leather with Pacquiao in a fight card called Double Trouble as it featured two main events. The second main event was Erik Morales versus Zahir Raheem. The card was supposed to hype up the rematch between Pacquiao and Morales.

The eight-division world champion struggled against the rugged Velazquez to start the fight. Velazquez brought the fight to Pacquiao, landing right hands and even taunting him multiple times. However, Pacquiao’s speed and power ultimately caught up with Velazquez for a sixth round technical knockout.

Velazquez was able to get some semblance of revenge against the Pacquiao family as he defeated Manny's brother Bobby in 2006. The younger Pacquiao was actually leading into the 11th round of that fight but referee Kenny Bayless disqualified him for repeated low blows. After that fight, Bobby gained notoriety as he refused to admit that he threw, in his words, "blow blows" even if the punches were closer to Velaquez' knee than to his belt.

In the past 17 years, Velazquez has only been knocked out twice. Other than Pacquiao, only the late Venezuelan wild man Edwin Valero was able to stop Velazquez, which speaks volumes of the Mexican’s ability to take a punch.

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Farenas, who has knocked out his last three opponents all within those fights’ first two rounds will be more than willing to test the jaw of Velazquez.

In the undercard of the event that will be held at the San Juan Arena, Dave Penalosa (7-0-0, 5 KOs) will try to one-up his brother Dodie Boy Penalosa Jr. against Alem Robles (6-4-2, 2 KOs) of Mexico. Last December, Dodie Boy Jr. struggled against the Mexican but he was able to eke out a win. The younger Penalosa is out to outperform his brother to prove he deserves the same attention.