Arum hoping to negotiate Pacquiao-Marquez fight in Macau

arum33By Chris Williams: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is still hoping to make a deal for a fifth fight between Juan Manuel Marquez and Manny Pacquiao in September of this year despite Marquez saying repeatedly that he’s cool to the idea of fighting Pacquiao yet again.

Due to the huge money on the line for a fifth fight between Pacquiao and Marquez, and due to Pacquiao needing to avenge his knockout loss to Marquez in order to show that Pacquiao isn’t washed up, Arum is pushing like hard for the Pacquiao-Marquez 5th fight.

read more

Pacquiao: I agreed to fight Marquez when he was begging me

pac44By Chris Williams: Manny Pacquiao feels that 39-year-old Juan Manuel Marquez (55-6-1, 40 KO’s) should agree to fight him since Pacquiao gave him a chance recently to fight again in their fourth fight last December after having beaten him by a controversial decision the previous year.

Pacquiao said to the Manila Bulletin “I agreed to fight him [Marquez] because he was begging me to give him another chance, so I gave him the chance, but if he doesn’t want, what can I do?”

The situation is different from how Pacquiao beat Marquez in 2008 and 2011 compared to how Marquez beat him last December. Pacquiao’s wins over Marquez were both controversial; whereas Marquez’s knockout win over Pacquiao last December was irrefutable.

read more

Marquez: There won’t be a fifth fight with Pacquiao

marquez5By Chris Williams: By now Top Rank promoter Bob Arum has probably heard the news that 39-year-old Juan Manuel Marquez (55-6-1, 40 KO’s) is saying that he has no interested in facing Arum’s stable fighter Manny Pacquiao for a fifth fight in September or ever.

Marquez feels that his recent 6th round knockout victory over the Filipino closes the book on their four fight series, and there’s no point in Arum trying to set up yet another fight.

Marquez says he wants either Tim Bradley or Brandon Rios, and he doesn’t want Pacquiao or WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.

read more

Thurman: I wish Mayweather had beaten Pacquiao two years ago so the hype wouldn’t been created

pac87By Chris Williams: Undefeated welterweight contender Keith Thurman (19-0, 18 KO’s) says he sees Manny Pacquiao as a flawed fighter, and he wasn’t surprised when Juan Manuel Marquez knocked him out last year in December in the 6th round. Thurman wishes that Floyd Mayweather Jr. had defeated Pacquiao before a couple of years ago in order to stop all the Pacquiao mania that came about.

Thurman said to Maxboxing.com “He’s [Pacquiao] made a real nice career for himself but he is a very beatable fighter…I wished Floyd Mayweather would have beat him two years ago so they wouldn’t have created this hype. And like Marquez told everybody, he’s a little bit smarter.”

read more

Pacquiao’s comeback six months away

pac653By Chris Williams: Manny Pacquiao will be making his comeback in September against one of Bob Arum’s Top Rank fighters. There’s still no word about who that fighter will be, but Arum is trying hard to make sure that Pacquiao’s recent conqueror Juan Manuel Marquez.

Arum and Pacquiao both want that fight because it’s kind of necessary for Pacquiao to at least try and avenge his 6th round knockout loss to Marquez from December. It might not be the smartest move that Pacquiao can make because he’s coming off a really badly knockout, and Marquez now has the power and the confidence that he can do it again. Arum will put the fight on HBO pay-per-view, and that means a ton of people will see Pacquiao get knocked out again if things go bad for him.

read more

Marquez’s promoter has other options for him besides Pacquiao

marquez564By 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.

read more

Barrera: Pacquiao isn’t a fading fighter; Marquez got lucky

pac006By Chris Williams: Marco Antonio Barrera isn’t giving fellow Mexican fighter Juan Manuel Marquez too much credit for having knocked Manny Pacquiao out cold in their fight last December, and nor is Barrera giving Marquez credit for having dominated Pacquiao in their three previous fights before that.

Visiting the Philippines to watch a fight this weekend, Barrera said to the sports.inquirer.net “I don’t believe he [Pacquiao] is doing down [fading]. It just happened that he got caught by a lucky punch. One more round and it would have been the other way around. Pacquiao won the first three, and Marquez won the last and that’s it.”

read more

Barrera questions where Marquez got his power for his last Pacquiao fight

marquez124By Chris Williams: Marco Antonio Barrera says he was surprised by Juan Manuel Marquez’s sudden emergence of power for his last fight against Manny Pacquiao last December in which Marquez (55-6-1, 40 KO’s) knocked Pacquiao out in the 6th round.

Barrera, who is in the Philippines this weekend to watch Moises Fuentes in his fight against Donnie Nietes said to sunstar.com.ph “Marquez doesn’t have power. I don’t know what happened. Everybody can see the difference of the Marquez today and the Marquez of the past. Maybe he has a very good doctor.”

read more

Marquez asking for $20 million for Pacquiao fifth fight?

marquez123By Chris Williams: Mexican warrior wants to be paid a lot more for his fifth fight with Manny Pacquiao than he’s received in his previous fights. According to philstar.com, Marquez is asking for a minimum of $20 million before he’ll agree to face the Filipino for a fifth time this September.

The last time the two fighters faced each other in December, Pacquiao had a lopsided purse in his favor with Marquez receiving $6 million to Pacquiao’s $23 million for a 76/24 split. This time, Marquez is looking for more parity between the two fighters so that they’re both being well paid.

There was $29 million to go around last time between the two fighters in guaranteed cash, but their next fight could bring even more due to the high interest in the fight.

read more

Pacquiao will lose big money by fighting only once in 2013

marquez124By Chris Williams: You can say Juan Manuel Marquez’s KO of Manny Pacquiao may end up costing the Filipino star huge money by keeping him out of the ring until September. Normally Pacquiao fights twice a year, but his promoter Bob Arum couldn’t find a venue for the April fight that Pacquiao wanted in order to fight.

The official reason for Pacquiao not fighting in April isn’t due to him having been knocked out. The reason is Arum couldn’t find a venue and an opponent that would bring him the kind of money that he’s used to getting in his fights.

read more