By Manuel Perez: Now that Manny Pacquiao has a huge mega-fight with Oscar De La Hoya coming up, and possibly another big money fight following that one against Ricky Hatton, I doubt more and more that Pacquiao will ever risk facing Juan Manual Marquez (49-4-1, 36 KOs) again. Twice they’ve gone at it, with the first fight resulting in a draw and the second a close 12-round split decision win for Pacquiao in March. As much as I like Pacquiao as a fighter, I think he’s been extremely fortunate to have escaped losing to Marquez on both occasions. And because of this, I think Pacquiao is going to steer around Marquez for the remainder of his career, making sure that he stays well clear of him to avoid facing a potential embarrassing loss.
Pacquiao wants to be paid well for a bout against Marquez, and apparently he believes that Marquez simply wants too much money to make the fight possible. However, other than fights against De La Hoya or Hatton, Marquez is the only other fighter near the same size as Pacquiao that can bring in big money. Of course, Pacquiao can always continue fighting opponents bigger than him if he does well against De La Hoya, and stay in the welterweight division.