According to a report in the renown Mexican newspaper Reforma, the camp of lightweight Johnny Nolasco is alleging that Jorge Barrera, brother and manager of former three divisional world champion Marco Antonio Barrera asked that Nolasco, the original opponent for Marco Antonio’s most recent bout on January 31st in Guadalajara, MX, take a dive in that bout.
The Daily Reforma quotes Rosa Diaz, manager of Nolasco among other fighters, who states that Jorge Barrera called her and stated “we need for Nolasco not to go past the 4th round, at the very least.” Diaz told the paper that she refused the offer.
She states that she responded to Jorge Barrera, “How are you going to ask me that if we are speaking about Marco Antonio Barrera? Please… especially with a fighter that has less than half the fights that Marco Antonio does.” At the last minute, Cuban Freudis Rojas substituted for Nolasco as the official opponent.
The result was a less than stellar contest which Barrera won by disqualification after the 1-8-1 Rojas initiated a head butt that resulted in Barrera needing stitches. On Friday Barrera stated that he had discussed the issue with his brother and denied the accusation.