By Manuel Perez: After having seen the second of their two fights in March, a fight which Marquez appeared to dominate yet lost by a 12-round split decision, I wonder why on earth Manny Pacquiao (47-3, 25 KOs) is content to walk away from a third bout between the two fighters? Could it be fear that he may lose to him, which he should have in the second if the judges’ had scored it as many boxing fans did, and hence ruin his ability to get future big paydays? It seems as if Pacquiao is ducking him, trying to avoid taking a big risk – for little money – and fighting him. Instead of what would likely be a superb third fight between these two fighters, we get Pacquiao dancing back and forth with De La Hoya over money issues.

Even if the fight ever does come off, which i don’t think it will, it still won’t likely be as half as exciting as a third fight between Marquez and Pacquiao. Maybe I come from the old school in which when you don’t beat someone conclusively, you turn around immediately and give them a rematch so you can prove it to the public and yourself, that you are indeed the better fighter of the two. Pacquiao, as good as some of his many boxing fans think he is, hasn’t proven himself to be the better fighter in either of their two bouts. In fact, he’s proven to be the lesser of the two fighters, as Marquez has out-boxed him in both fighters after being knocked down. Who cares if Marquez was knocked down once or twice?

It’s the Marquez of Queensbury rules, meaning that the fighter with the better boxing skills should always be the one that wins, unless there’s a knockout or an excessive amount of knockdowns. The last time I checked, neither of those two things occurred in their two bouts, and hence Marquez should have won both of them. In each case, their two fights were absolute classics, as the two warriors traded bombs at close range with Marquez getting the better of the action most of the time.

HBO and Showtime should have been crawling all over these two fighters, begging them on their hands and knees to get them back into the ring again, because there’s nothing that can compare to them in terms of excitement. Without them fighting, you get some boring nonsense like Bernard Hopkins vs. Kelly Pavlik or Roy Jones Jr. vs. Jose Calzaghe. What is that? It’s like an old timer’s tour of the stars, with both fights being nothing but a farce. However, with Marquez and Pacquiao, you guaranteed to get nonstop action from the start to the finish of the fight.

I guess it’s not the cable network’s fault, though, because they probably were down on their knees begging for a rematch between the two.