Marquez has no interest in WBC Diamond title for Pacquiao fight

By Boxing News - 11/09/2012 - Comments

Image: Marquez has no interest in WBC Diamond title for Pacquiao fightBy Chris Williams: Juan Manuel Marquez (54-6-1, 39 KO’s) said no to the idea of fighting for the WBC Diamond title when it was offered for him to fight for by the World Boxing Council for his fourth fight with Manny Pacquiao (54-4-2, 38 KO’s) on December 8th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Marquez, 39, reportedly doesn’t see any value in the Diamond strap, which created not long ago by the WBC to be specifically for top fighters of the sport to fight over.

Marquez said to the Record.com.mx “A championship Diamond, Gold, Silver, for me is not important now. Agencies don’t make the fighter. The fighter makes what he is.”

The Pacquiao-Marquez fourth fight won’t have a title up for grabs for this one. This is a departure from their three previous fights, as one of them has always had a title at the time they fought. However, it matters little if a title were to be fought over at this point because both guys are so popular that casual boxing fans won’t care if a title strap isn’t on the line for this fight. Fans just want to see a good fight, and they want good judging as well after the disappointments of the three prior fights in which many fans felt that Marquez should have won them all.

If Marquez had said yes to the Diamond belt it would have likely meant that he would have had to pay a sanctioning fee in order to get the belt up for grabs. With the fight between Pacquiao and Marquez earning both fighters millions of dollars it’s not hard to see that the sanctioning fee to have the Diamond strap on the line could be quite high. If boxing fans really valued the title, we’d likely see the belt up for grabs.

However, with all the various titles that the difference sanctioning bodies have created in recent years to collect sanctioning fees from the fighters it’s like huge deep sea fishing nets being cast into the ocean of fighters to collect cash for straps. I don’t see how it makes any sense at all, and I can understand Marquez not being interested in having the Diamond belt on the line.



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