Marquez joins long line to fight Pacquiao
Top Rank president Todd DuBoef can expect more than the usual volume of traffic on his cell phone this morning when he cruises into the Starbucks in his Summerlin neighborhood for his daily dose of caffeine.
Among his callers will be Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer, promoter Lou DiBella, perhaps promoter Gary Shaw and anyone else who wants to get their fighter in the ring with Manny Pacquiao.
Everyone is jockeying for position to get a deal done to face Pacquiao, boxing’s pound-for-pound champion who has won world titles in eight weight classes.
That includes Juan Manuel Marquez, who sounded like a politician stumping for support after his ninth-round technical knockout win over Michael Katsidis Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden.
Marquez did everything but call Pacquiao a chicken in demanding Pacquiao get in the ring with him for a third time after their first two extremely competitive fights.
“Stop making excuses Manny and fight me,” Marquez implored Pacquiao in his post-fight news conference. “This is the fight the people want to see.”
Actually, the fight boxing fans really want to see is Pacquiao against Floyd Mayweather Jr. But given Mayweather’s current legal issues and the lingering animosity between Mayweather and Top Rank chairman Bob Arum, who’s Pacquiao’s promoter, that fight may not happen anytime soon, if ever.
A third fight with Marquez has merit, depending on the weight that they would fight at.
Their first fight in 2004 was at 126 pounds. That contest ended in a 12-round draw. Their rematch in 2008 was contested at 130 pounds and Pacquiao earned a 12-round split decision.
Pacquiao has long since left the super featherweight division. A fight with Marquez at 140 pounds or at a catch weight of 142 could be a competitive fight. DiBella, who promotes WBC welterweight champ Andre Berto, said if Pacquiao continues to fight as a welterweight he should face a true welterweight in Berto.
“You can’t argue (Marquez) deserves an opportunity, but at 147, it’s not a fair fight,” DiBella said. “If Pacquiao moves down to 140, no one is going to complain if he fights Marquez. But if he is a welterweight, then fight a welterweight and my guy showed he’s a welterweight.”
Berto retained his WBC belt with a first-round TKO of Freddy Hernandez on the Marquez-Katsidis undercard Saturday.
Of course, Shane Mosley can make the same argument because he’s also a welterweight. Mosley already has talked to DuBoef about a March fight with Pacquiao.
Schaefer, who promotes Marquez, said if Mayweather and Pacquiao don’t face each other, Marquez is the best opponent for Pacquiao.
“I remember at Mandalay Bay after the second fight that Bob Arum said it was going to take time before Pacquiao and Marquez fought again,” Schaefer said. “When is there going to be a better time than now?”
A fan poll on Yahoo! Sports that had attracted nearly 11,000 votes by early Sunday evening showed 46 percent wanted a third Pacquiao-Marquez fight with 27 percent favoring a fight with Berto and 14 percent wanting a matchup with Mosley if a Pacquiao-Mayweather fight can’t be made.
Marquez, who was sporting a green T-shirt at the news conference that proclaimed on front “Marquez Beat Pacquiao Twice” and on back “Pacquiao Your (sic) Next,” said he would consider fighting lightweight Robert Guerrero, who was at Saturday’s fight and is the No. 1 mandatory challenger for Marquez’s WBO belt. But like everyone else, he is fixated on Pacquiao.
“Obviously, my first choice is to fight Pacquiao but he keeps coming up with any excuse he can find,” Marquez said.
“I’m ready to fight him anywhere. I’ll come up to 140 (pounds) to fight him. Let’s just do it.”
Contact sports reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or at 702-387-2913.
