Boxing News: Juan Manuel Marquez Serious To Fight Manny Pacquiao Again, Only If…
Juan Manuel Marquez appears to be serious in fighting his archrival Manny Pacquiao for the very last time in his career. According to Top-Rank head honcho, Marquez is open to fight the winner of the showdown between Pacquiao and reigning WBO Welterweight Champion Tim Bradley.
The veteran boxing promoter revealed that Marquez might have softened his stance not to fight Pacquiao again, and is now considering a possible fifth showdown with the Filipino boxing champ, if he's able to win against Bradley in this welterweight slugfest on April 12 at MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas, Nevada.
"I would love to do Pacquiao-Marquez," Arum said in the interview with Hustle Boss. "Pacquiao has to win this fight and Marquez says he'll fight him. So it's a big incentive for Pacquiao...He'll fight the winner of this fight to win the belt.
Arum said that Marquez's decision to fight the winner of Pacquiao vs. Bradley bout is coming from his desire to win another world championship belt in fifth different weight class, which would make him the first Mexican boxing warrior to do such feat.
"Marquez really wants only one thing before he retires," Arum said. "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]."
Arum Will Pull It Off
There's no doubt that Arum wants Pacquiao to win over Bradley because of the huge amount of money waiting down the road, especially if the Pacman vs. Marquez clash pushes through.
In the latest op-ed by boxing writer Chris Williams of Boxing News 24, he believed the fifth fight between the two boxing gladiators will still hit more than 1 million pay-per-view buys. With the fanbase Marquez possesses and star appeal of Pacquiao, this historic clash will be a surefire hit once again - which is good for Arum's business.
"I bet Arum is very happy about Marquez changing his mind about the possibility of fighting Pacquiao for a 5th time, because he's really the only guy that Arum has in his Top Rank stable that can help Pacquiao bring in over 1 million buys at this point in his career."
"The good old days where Arum could just throw anyone in the ring with Pacquiao and wind up with over 1 million PPV buys appear to be over with. Now it takes a quality opponent like Marquez with a huge fan base to pump up Pacquiao's numbers over the 1 million PPV buys mark. I guess fans got tired of paying to see mismatches like Pacquiao's fights against Antonio Margarito, Joshua Clottey, and Brandon Rios," Williams stated.
