Top Rank promoter Bob Arum must be smiling like a Cheshire cat right about now with the news that 40-year-old Juan Manuel Marquez has had a change of mind about never wanting to fight Arum’s number 1 money fighter Manny Pacquiao. Well, Marquez isn’t exactly falling all over himself at the thought of fighting Pacquiao for a fifth time, because he feels already beat him 4 times and proved that he’s the superior fighter.
By having Marquez fight Pacquiao in September, Arum will see Pacquiao’s pay-per-view numbers back into the million range where they had been for many years until Arum made the questionable decision to match him up against Brandon Rios and stick the fight in Macao, China instead of the United States.
Marquez wants a shot at the WBO welterweight title, and he’s now willing to fight the winner of the April 12th fight between Pacquiao and WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley in order to get a shot at the title. Pacquiao obviously wants the 5th fight with Marquez, as he was knocked cold by him the last time they fought in December 2012. Pacquiao wants the rematch so show that it was just a lucky punch that Marquez landed the last time they fought.
“Marquez really wants only one thing before he retires,” Arum told Hustleboss. “He wants to win that [WBO welterweight] title. And he has indicated to us that he would be very available to fight the winner of the Pacquiao and Bradley in the fall…He’s [Marquez] obviously changed his tune [about not wanting to fight Pacquiao again].”
If Bradley beats Pacquiao on April 12th then it won’t be nearly as interesting for Arum. Bradley has been dragging his feet about giving Marquez a rematch, and there’s no telling what Bradley will do if he beats Pacquiao for a second time. Arum would obviously try and set up a third fight between Bradley and Pacquiao if he can get Bradley to agree. Arum will have to try hard to get Bradley to fight either Pacquiao or Marquez. I think Bradley has learned his lesson about fighting the likes of Ruslan Provodnikov, so we won’t see a rematch between those two. Bradley was lucky to escape the Provodnikov fight without being knocked out in their fight last year.
At 40, Marquez seems totally obsessed with trying to capture a 5th division world title. He wants it so badly that he’s willing to fight Pacquiao in order to make it happen. It’s too bad Marquez can’t fight any of the Golden Boy Promotions fighters, because he’d have a good chance of defeating WBA welterweight champion Marcos Maidana or IBF champion Shawn Porter. By facing the winner of the Bradley-Pacquiao II fight for the WBO title, Marquez is taking the harder path.
