23By Chris Williams: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum will be meeting with Tim Bradley, Juan Manuel Marquez and Manny Pacquiao’s adviser Michael Koncz this Thursday night to decision on who will be the next opponent for Pacquiao in September.
According to RingTV, Arum will meet Marquez, Bradley and Koncz at the Boxing Writers Association of America dinner on Thursday night so that he can talk it over with each of them. It’s clear that Marquez is the guy that Arum wants the most because he brings a lot more money to Arum and Pacquiao with his ability to attract a lot of his Mexican fans through pay per view.
Bradley doesn’t have the same ability and the numbers he attracts are likely minimal. However, if Arum can’t lock Marquez down as Pacquiao’s next opponent, which is seeming increasingly likely, then Arum will select Bradley as the next opponent for Pacquiao to fight.
That’s the most likely opponent until Arum wants to give Marquez the near 50-50 deal that he’s asking for in order to take the fifth fight with Pacquiao. Marquez made only $6 million guaranteed for his last fight with Pacquiao last December compared to Pacquiao’s $23 million guaranteed.
It’s highly unlikely that Arum is going to bump up Marquez’s money more than $10 million at best. The fight will make much more money this time, so in reality Marquez will be still likely getting the same percentage split as before because Pacquiao’s $23 million will likely jump to $27 million. As such, I can see Marquez getting more money than last time but still ending up with the same percentage split of 76-24 offered to him for the Pacquiao fight.
Pacquiao has a reason to want to fight Bradley because he beat Pacquiao last year by a 12 round decision. Pacquiao lost his WBO title in that fight, and he would like to recapture it while avenging his loss at the same time.
Arum will definitely nail down Bradley if Marquez isn’t willing to accept the money they’re offering him. Arum isn’t going to put Pacquiao in with Brandon Rios or Mike Alvarado because there’s too much danger for Pacquiao without a big payoff. More risky than it’s worth.
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