By Chris Williams: After an impressive 9th round TKO win over WBO lightweight interim champion Michael Katsidis (27-3, 22 KO’s) last Saturday night at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada, WBA/WBO lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez (52-5-1, 38 KO’s) called out Manny Pacquiao at the post fight press conference, saying “I deserve a third fight with Pacquiao but he keeps coming up with excuses why not to fight me. When he fought Margarito, he came in at 144 pounds. We can fight at a catch weight of 142 lbs or 140 lbs. I’m sure he can make the weight unless he’s too scared.”

Pacquiao has been less than eager to get back in the ring with Marquez after winning a controversial 12 round split decision over him two years ago in 2008. I saw the fight and had Marquez winning by two rounds. He badly schooled Pacquiao for most of the fight, and taking away the early flash knockdown of Marquez, I had Marquez winning by a significant margin.

Freddie Roach, Pacquiao’s trainer, wants the Pacquiao-Marquez fight, albeit at the full 147 pound weight for the division without a catch weight to accommodate Marquez. That tells you a little something about Roach. It doesn’t like he fancies Pacquiao’s chances if the fight takes place at a weight where Marquez is strong at. Given that Pacquiao fought at 144 for his bout against Antonio Margarito earlier this month, it seems only fair that Pacquiao fight him at 140 pound catch weight. Marquez fights at 135, so if they meet in the middle, that’s 140. Emanuel Steward, the HBO analyst, said that 140 would be a good weight for Pacquiao and Marquez to fight at. So why then would Roach want the fight to take place at 147? It makes it seem like Roach is worried about his fighter’s chances against Marquez.

Marquez wore a shirt at the post fight press conference with the lettering “Marquez beat Pacquiao twice. Pacquiao your next.”

Let’s hope that Pacquiao, his promoter Bob Arum and trainer Roach do the right thing and choose Marquez next instead of 39-year-old Shane Mosley or WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto. If Floyd Mayweather Jr. is the next option for Pacquiao, then I can certainly understand them taking that fight rather than the Marquez bout. It’s a no brainer that Mayweather is the better option, but it’s not likely that Mayweather will take the fight. And even if he does agree to it, I doubt Pacquiao will agree to the random blood testing that Mayweather wants before he’ll fight him. For this reason, I see Marquez as the best option. But he’s also the hardest fight for Pacquiao because of his excellent boxing skills and superb counter punching ability. It’s easy to see why Arum has been slow in trying to match Pacquiao back up with Marquez. A loss for Pacquiao will really hurt his money making ability, and would take away from a latter fight with Mayweather.