By Chris Williams: Fernando Beltran, the promoter for Juan Manuel Marquez (54-6-1, 39 KO’s) from Zanfer Promotions, says that a fourth fight between the 39-year-old Marquez and 33-year-old Manny Pacquiao (54-4-2, 38 KO’s), is “95 percent done”, according to The Record.

Beltran told Record.com.mx “The only reason I can not guarantee the fight is because there isn’t a contract of Pacquiao before us. However, in the coming hours we will. Verbally we can announce that on December 8th, we will make this fight…It is 95% finished.”

Surprise, surprise. Pacquiao has little choice but to fight Marquez because it’s the only remaining fight out there, short of a dangerous fight agaisnt Floyd Mayweather Jr, that will make the big money that some of Pacquiao’s past fights have taken in on pay per view. Pacquiao saw his PPV numbers drop in his last fight against Timothy Bradley last June.

Pacquiao lost that fight by a 12 round decision, and his promoter Bob Arum wants to see those PPV numbers shoot back up to the 1 million buy range once again. Hence we’re seeing Pacquiao put back in with 39-year-old Marquez rather than having him try and avenge his loss to Bradley by facing him again.

There’s been talk that the Marquez-Pacquiao 4 fight will take place in Mexico City, Mexico, but that’s not going to happen. Arum likes Las Vegas because of the zero state taxes and the good money that can be made in venues like the MGM Grand with a seating capacity of 17,000. At this point, I’m not so sure that a Marquez-Pacquiao fourth fight will sellout the MGM Grand or any venue in Las Vegas, because the fight has been played out so many different times in the past and Marquez seems to always get jobbed every time.

There’s still a possibility that Pacquiao could veto the fight by choosing not to take on Marquez, who seems to really have his number. In that case, it’ll either be Bradley or some other well known – but slipping fighter – that will get the fight. It won’t likely be a guy that’s firing on all cylinders that can possibly beat him like Andre Berto.

According to Fighthype.com, 34-year-old former two division world champion Zab Judah is a possibility to face Pacquiao. It’s a terrible choice given that Judah was recently stopped by Amir Khan in the 5th round last year July, but Judah does have a recognizable name among casual boxing fans in the United States. It’s just that unless that these same fans have been living in a cave high up on a mountain they’ll realize quickly that Judah isn’t the same fighter he once was 10 years ago and is now a mere shadow of where he was at many years ago. However, like 40-year-old Shane Mosley, who Pacquiao fought and easily beat last year in May, it doesn’t seem to be about competitive fights. It seems more like whether his opponent is recognized enough by casual boxing fans to where they’ll want to purchase the fight in high numbers on PPV. A Judah-Pacquiao fight would be sick. Talk about your terrible mismatches, this would be the king of mismatches. Judah isn’t a shot fighter but he’s getting there, and his loss Khan kind of showed you that in a painfully obvious way.