Marquez wants Pacquiao rematch held in California or Texas

By Boxing News - 05/28/2012 - Comments

Image: Marquez wants Pacquiao rematch held in California or TexasBy Chris Williams: Juan Manuel Marquez says he doesn’t want to face WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao in Nevada for their fourth fight between them, which could take place later this year if Pacquiao can get past Tim Bradley on June 9th.

According to Manila Bulletin, Marquez feels his three previous fights against Pacquiao in Vegas weren’t judged fairly, and because of that he doesn’t want to face the Filipino fighter there for a fourth time. Instead, Marquez wants the fights to be held in either California or Texas.

This shouldn’t be a problem because Pacquiao fought in Texas against Antonio Margarito in 2010, and their fight drew over 40,000 fans at the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington. Bob Arum, Pacquiao’s promoter, would be doing his fighter a big favor by choosing to stage it in Texas instead of Las Vegas.

It’s highly likely that Pacquiao won’t agree to what Marquez is asking and will likely go in another direction rather than taking that fight. Pacquiao already doesn’t seem excited about it, and opted to fight Bradley rather than Marquez for his next fight, even though it’ll probably result in Pacquiao making a lot less money because Marquez is a much bigger draw compared to Bradley. Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach doesn’t want Pacquiao to fight Marquez again.

Roach would rather Pacquiao fight former WBA lightweight champion Brandon Rios. That sounds like an awful fight, because of how poor Rios looked in his controversial win over Richard Abril in March. Rios appeared to get dominated by Abril. Not just beaten, but completely dominated and the decision angered a lot of people. For Pacquiao to face Rios, it would be another unpopular fight. Roach must have been in cave when the Rios-Abril fight took place, because the last fighter you’d think Roach would pick out for Pacquiao would be Rios.

If Pacquiao loses to Bradley, then Marquez will have to wait for their November 10th rematch to take place before he’ll possibly get a shot against Pacquiao in early 2013.



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