By Chris Williams: Bob Arum of Top Rank may need to look at another opponent for Manny Pacquiao’s next fight in September because Juan Manuel Marquez’s promoter Fernando Beltran says he has other options for Marquez to fight next besides Pacquiao.
Beltran told Zocalo.com.mx that he’s got the following list of fighters that Marquez can pick from for his next fight: Ruslan Provodnikov, Jessie Vargas, Tim Bradley, Mike Alvarado and Brandon Rios.
Pacquiao’s name is among the list, but he’s not necessarily going to be the guy that Marquez chooses next unless Arum offers Marquez a much better purse split than the last time Pacquiao and Marquez fought, which resulted in Pacquiao receiving $23 million compared to Marquez’s $6 million. In other words, it was a 76-24 deal in favor of Pacquiao.
Arum believes he’s going to be able to get Marquez to say yes to a rematch with Pacquiao in September, but I don’t know. I think Marquez is ready to walk away from a lot of money in order to fight someone different. Arum can still probably lure Marquez into fighting Pacquiao, but it might take a deal closer to 50-50 for that to happen.
Arum is willing to wait until 2014 to put a fifth fight between Pacquiao and Marquez together if he has to, but obviously he wants to make that fight happen now because a lot of the interest will disappear if Pacquiao or Marquez get beaten before then. With Pacquiao, he could get beaten again in his very next fight no matter who Arum puts him in with in his Top Rank stable.
Arum can put Pacquiao in with Rios, and we still could see Pacquiao knocked out again if his ability to take shots has deteriorated following his KO loss to Marquez in his last fight. But besides the danger of Marquez and Pacquiao losing, there’s also the possibility that boxing fans will forget about the Pacquiao-Marquez match-up and no be nearly as excited if the fight takes place in 2014 instead of September.
Boxing fans have short memories when it comes to exciting fights, and they might not be clamoring for a fifth fight between Pacquiao and Marquez if it doesn’t take place soon.
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