Juan Manuel Marquez to defend his lightweight titles in June or July, still wants Pacquiao bout

By Boxing News - 04/22/2011 - Comments

By Dan Ambrose: WBA/WBO lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez (52-5-1, 38 KO’s) is reportedly thinking about defending his lightweight titles in June or July of this year, and then going after a possible third right with Manny Pacquiao in November. Marquez was thought to be stepping up in weight to take on IBF light welterweight champion Zab Judah but it looks like Marquez is going to stay at lightweight and defend his titles against one of the challengers at that weight.

There is really only two interesting fights for Marquez at lightweight right now. Marquez can fight Brandon Rios, the regular WBA champion or he can take on his number #1 challenger Robert Guerrero. Both of those options will be very tough fights for Marquez because Rios and Guerrero have a lot of power, are very young and throw a lot of punches. It would seem that Judah would be the easier fight for Marquez because Judah no longer throws a lot of punches and can be out-worked. If Marquez can win his next fight in June or July, he might be the next opponent for Pacquiao.

However, Marquez’s chances of fighting Pacquiao probably drop dramatically if Marquez decides to stay with Golden Boy Promotions. It’s doubtful he’ll get the fight with Pacquiao if he does decide to stay with Golden Boy. Marquez is well aware of that and will have to make a big decision when it comes to deciding to stick it out with them or move on. Marquez gave Pacquiao a lot of problems in the past in his two fights with Pacquiao, but since then Pacquiao has moved up in weight and put on a lot of muscle. It would be a much different fight now unless Marquez can get Pacquiao to fight him at a catchweight. I don’t see that happening because Pacquiao gets other fighters to come down in weight to fight him at catchweights and hasn’t thus far done the same for fighters below his weight. There’s always a chance that Pacquiao could do this but I doubt it.



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