LAS VEGAS ? David Diaz is begging for a fight with Manny Pacquiao.
Just moments after the fighter from Chicago pulled off a 10-round decision over Mexico?s Ramon Montano, he pressed himself as the fighter whom Pacquiao should face next.
Not Juan Manuel Marquez who wants a third fight with Pacquiao.
?That would be awesome. I hope Bob Arum can make that happen. That will be a great fight,? said Diaz of a possible showdown with Pacquiao at 135 lbs.
Bob Arum of Top Rank, who handles both Pacquiao and Diaz, has penned a date for the Pacquiao-Diaz match, June 28, and the venue, Mandalay Bay here in Vegas.
?And then it?s Macau (against someone else) during the fall,? said Arum.
Diaz looks so desperate to face Pacquiao.
?Share the dough. Don?t be greedy. It will be a good fight to see. We?ll go at it. All I?m saying is give me a chance. They (Pacquiao and Marquez) have fought twice. Now it?s my turn,? he said.
Arum was firm that Pacquiao will fight Diaz next before he even starts looking at a third fight with Marquez, no longer at 130 lbs but at 135 lbs.
?We have to look at how bad Pacquiao?s cut is. It depends on how bad the cut is. If it?s not possible, if it needs a longer time to heal, then we have to postpone the Diaz fight,? said Arum.
A cut as big as Pacquiao?s, which he suffered in the seventh round against Marquez, may take six to eight weeks to heal, and by the time it does it should be very close to June.
?And Freddie wants Pacquiao to train two months. Otherwise, we may have to postpone the Diaz fight,? added Arum.
NOTES: Of 30 US-based Filipino photographers who applied for credentials in the ?Unfinished Business? card, only less than a dozen, 10 to be exact, got through. Still, those who made felt deprived as none of them was given ringside access. ?We?ve all covered a number of Pacquiao fights here in the US but never, ever has anyone among us been given ringside access. We?ve always been made to stay up there in the mountain,? said one member of the Press Photographers Philippines-USA. Worse, he said, there are three or four Mexican photographers who were allowed to stay close to the action Saturday.
