By Recah Trinidad

LOS ANGELES — It would be terribly unwise of Marco Antonio Barrera to kill himself preparing for a two-fisted roller coaster in his next fight.

Manny Pacquiao, a marked southpaw, may indeed throw more right hands come Saturday, Oct. 6 in Las Vegas. But if Barrera bothers to put his over-abused nose closer to the video screen, he would discover that the dreaded right hand was already there when Pacquiao ran him over in November 2003.

If in doubt, Barrera could go send one assistant to the Wild Card gym here where there’s a yellowish full newspaper page pasted on the right wall, immediately after the door, detailing the gory presence of the right hand nose-crusher in their first encounter in Texas.

It’s, of course, unclear whether the Pacquiao right shot came in the form of a hook or a jab, but the impact of the blow pitifully distorted Barrera’s handsome profile beyond recognition.

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That said, we take this opportunity to inform Señor Barrera he should start preparing for a Pacquiao hidden weapon.

No, correction. This one that ultimately opened the door to Barrera’s lamentable defeat four years ago is not exactly secret.

But if it should now loom like a mystery, a fleeting midnight blade landing like a lightning bolt, it’s because of the dumb fact Barrera et al had overlooked it.

Instead of Pacquiao’s over-hyped new shot — the right hook, which had at one time been associated with the disloyal Manila Ice — Barrera should come ready to duck the Big Jab.

Whether Barrera likes it or not, he will be standing up before a two-handed upheaval in Pacquiao.

It’s, of course, hard to tell whether that storm could complete the devastation or dissipate ahead, given Pacquiao’s uneven training regimen that saw him bolting perfect Wild Card to keep love fires burning at home.

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Anyway, credit for exposing the hidden Pacquiao weapon goes to John Chavez who, writing for Boxing News, went off the beaten track to give The Jab its rightful place in the Sweet Science:

“While there’s been so much emphasis on Pacquiao’s power punches in recent times, it’s the simplest and subtle things in his arsenal that truly make him special … It’s funny how even at the highest levels in boxing, the simplest punch is still and will always be the most important.”

Touché.

Now, let’s call in the inimitable Hermie Rivera, who bothered to lend us his observation from his love nest in San Jose, in the process confirming how trainer Freddie Roach had also given credit to Pacquiao’s phantom jab:

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“If Manny starts out with his usual dose of non-stop punching, then a shortened evening is in store for Marco who’s in a grind himself sweating his butt off at a Guadalajara gym.

“Midway into their arduous workouts, I still can’t see how Barrera can avenge his knockout by Pacquiao. Unless he has grown a third arm and a leg to boot.

“Buoyed by the expert handling of Freddie Roach and Buboy Fernandez, the southpaw terror is on track to reassert his dominance of the Mexican three-time champ.

“At best, Barrera will find it discomfiting — at worst difficult — once Pacquiao opens up with his long list of stinging hooks and straights set up by his wicked jabs.

“‘Any fighter leading with the jab can execute the knockout drills polished in the workouts,’” says Freddie.

“You can bet the house Marco would be looking for ways to surprise Manny in their re-acquaintance shindig.

“Manny’s powerful strikes hurt Marco in their first encounter, forcing his handlers to stop it in the 11th round.

“He was staggered repeatedly by solid shots unleashed without let-up by the Filipino crackerjack.

“This time, expect Marco to seek desperate means to eke out an upset over his hard-hitting rival.

“To execute such plan, Barrera must engage Pacquiao early and whack away at every turn to exact maximum damage — else he’ll be in pasture posthaste.

“Ironically, a defeat could revive Marco’s stalled drive to earn a law degree, an avid wish sidetracked by his 11th round collapse at San Antonio’s Alamodome.

“If Barrera gets blown out again, maybe he can seek solace in the successional defense of his future clients. Against Manny — he’s defenseless.

“While Barrera was consistent in winning most of his fights, there’s something vital that he must do but didn’t in their first war.

“He must avoid standing in front of Manny and getting an abundance of heavy jolts sans the obligatory counterpoise. I’m sure Barrera’s handlers know about this fistic gaffe by now.

“Now we are looking at a healthy Pacquiao and this means the Pinoy mangler is all set to repeat his enthralling stoppage of the vengeance-seeking Barrera.”