By Chris Williams: If WBA/WBO lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez wants a third fight with Manny Pacquiao, he can pretty much forget about a catchweight to help bridge the gap between his current fighting weight of 135 and the 147 lbs that Pacquiao is currently fighting at. Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach says that Marquez would have to move up in weight to 147 without the benefit of a catchweight, even though Pacquiao has used them in fights with Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito to capture major titles.

Marquez has already shown that he’s slow and too small at 143 when he bulked up to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2009 and lost a lopsided 12 round decision. It seems unfair for Marquez to have to come up all the way to fight Pacquiao without a catchweight of at least 141. That seems like a fair number.

In an article at supersport.com, Roach said “He [Marquez] is just going to have to come up to 147 and I think he might be a little too small for that weight. He might want to fight at a catchweight or something like that. But Manny’s weight class is 147 right now and that is what we are going to fight at.”

In other words, the deck has to be stacked in Pacquiao’s favor for the fight to take place. If I’m Marquez, I’d tell no deal unless I get a catchweight like the ones that Pacquiao has used to win paper titles at. If it’s good enough for Pacquiao, then it should be good enough for Marquez. But how can Roach acknowledge that Marquez is probably too small and then say that’s just how it’s going to be. Does Pacquiao really need every advantage to win this fight? I know how bad Pacquiao looked in his previous two fights with Marquez where he got a draw and a controversial 12 round decision but come on, Marquez will be 38 by the time Pacquiao fights him. Isn’t that an advantage enough?