By Chris Williams: Former three division world champion Juan Manuel Marquez is hoping and praying he can get a fourth fight with WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao later on this year. However, Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum wants Marquez to fight one of his stable fighters former WBA World lightweight champion Brandon Rios in the summer.

It’s unclear whether this is a condition for Marquez to fight Pacquiao. If so, I’m sure Marquez will be on board with it. If not, then he needs to tell Arum to walk because Marquez would be doing Arum a big favor by fighting Rios since Marquez is the much more popular fighter.

Arum said this to the Miamiherald.com “Juan Manuel has his hands fill with this Fedchenko. Brandon Rios has a tough fight with [Abril]. Let’s see if we can put a fight between the two of them together.”

Gee, why doesn’t Arum use Pacquiao to fight Rios? Why is Marquez being used? I think I would be seeing red lights if I was Marquez about a fight with Rios. I can see Marquez beating Rios black and blue and then not getting the decision. Marquez already got jobbed twice in his last two Pacquiao bouts, and I think Marquez won all three of them.

The word going around is that Pacquiao isn’t all that interested in facing Marquez a fourth time, because he feels it won’t interest boxing fans. If that’s the case, then it appears Marquez won’t be getting a rematch with him. Marquez should then say no deal as for the Rios fight goes. If Arum is going to do him a favor and set him up with a rematch with Pacquiao, then Marquez should fight Arum’s guy Rios. But if I was Marquez, I’d make sure that I got everything in writing to ensure that there were no misunderstanding.