By Chris Williams: 41-year-old former 4 division world champion Juan Manuel Marquez (56-7-1, 40 KOs) says he’s been offered a ton of loot to face WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao (56-5-2, 38 KOs) for a fifth time, but Marquez doesn’t see the point in continuing to fight the aging Filipino fighter since he defeated him decisively by a 6th round knockout in their last meeting two years ago.
Marquez figures that he’s already beaten Pacquiao four times already, and been robbed on three of the occasions. Fighting Pacquiao a fifth time would be totally redundant because it’s something Marquez has already done so many times previously.
“I’ve been offered a lot of money for face Pacquiao, but better honor, prestige, [and] respect for a country that for me is first. And, why a fifth fight? Since we won,” said Marquez via eleconomista.com.mx.
That makes a lot of sense what Marquez says. Why should be put himself in a position where he might need another knockout in order to ensure he doesn’t wind up on the receiving end up another controversial decision loss. Marquez obviously doesn’t want to put himself in a position where he might need to KO the 35-year-old Pacquiao for him to walk out of the ring with Pacquiao’s WBO 147lb strap around his waist.
You can’t blame Marquez for not wanting to continue the endless cycle of him fighting Pacquiao over and over again in rematches. It’s obviously not interesting for Marquez anymore. He’s the type of fighter who likes to fight different guys instead of getting stuck in rematch cycles.
The good news for Marquez is that Pacquiao is supposedly moving down in weight after his fight this month against Chris Algieri in Macau, China. We don’t know whether Pacquiao will hang onto his WBO welterweight title while fighting in the 140 pound division. You would have to hope that Pacquiao doesn’t do that, because it would likely mean that he would defend the WBO title once a year if that.
Marquez would likely to get a shot at winning one of the welterweight titles before he retires from the sport, because he wants to capture a fifth division world title. Marquez can either wait until Pacquiao gives up his WBO strap or he can go after IBF belt holder Kell Brook to try and win his strap.