Juan Manuel Marquez the likely next opponent for Pacquiao in November if Mayweather doesn’t take it

By Eric Thomas: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is looking at 37-year-old WBA/WBO lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez (52-5-1, 38 KO’s) as his fighter Manny Pacquiao’s next likely opponent for November if Floyd Mayweather Jr. doesn’t decide to take the fight. Mayweather is Arum’s first choice and the one that he’s been after since last year to try and get in the ring with Pacquiao.

The fight couldn’t get made in the past because Pacquiao wouldn’t agree to the random blood testing requirements that Mayweather was asking for. Supposedly, Pacquiao is ready to take the tests now to satisfy Mayweather. The only thing that is keeping the fight from being made now is Mayweather’s legal problems, which are huge at the moment and serious enough to where the fight might not get made. In that case, Arum says he might have Pacquiao fight Marquez in November. Marquez previously fought Pacquiao twice, having to settle for a draw in 2004 and then losing a controversial 12 round split decision in 2008.

Many people, this writer included, felt that Marquez was the better fighter in both of the Pacquiao fights and deserved to get the wins. He appeared to win the majority of the rounds and had Pacquiao looking bad much of the time. It’s disappointing that three years have been allowed to go by without a rematch occurring between them because the guys that Pacquiao has been being put in with in the past three years haven’t had the talent to compete with him the way that Marquez could.

Some people think that Arum has purposely kept Pacquiao away from Marquez because of the problems that Pacquiao had with the Mexican warrior. Hopefully, Arum will decide to put Pacquiao in with Marquez because if he waits too much longer, we may have another case of Pacquiao fighting an old fighter that is past his prime. Pacquiao is fighting 39-year-old Shane Mosley on May 7th. Mosley hasn’t won a fight in two years and looks, in the minds of many fans, to be a shot fighter. He’s just now getting an opportunity to fight Pacquiao after being ignored when was fighting better.