Juan Manuel Marquez has demanded $20 million to face bitter rival Manny Pacquiao for a fifth time, according to Mexican newspaper Esto.
Fresh from his meat-cleaver sixth round knockout of Pacquiao, the Mexican legend has developed what some might say is an over-established sense of his own worth, but it is actually reasonably consistent policy for Marquez, all be it on a larger scale. He turned down a much smaller figure to box Pacquiao for a second time in 2005, choosing instead to go and box Chris John for a relative pittance in Indonesia in 2006, dropping a decision that remains the subject of some debate. Marquez has always been of the opinion that boxing Pacquiao was worth rather more than boxing mere mortals.
He will turn forty before any fight with the Filipino can be made and has been warily eyeing retirement under apparent pressure from his family, but Marquez still has that warrior look?it seems that the twenty million figure is something of a compromise, with his ego, with his wife, with himself. If they want him, let them pay, if they don?t, perhaps some other victim and then retirement. Certainly as far as ?taking advice? goes, those days seem to be over.
?I will not allow myself to move forward based on what a promoter or other people say,? the 62-fight veteran announced recently, ahead of any possible meeting with Bob Arum. The new message is clearly that he can be led, but only for an astronomical price. Will Top Rank pay it? Well they paid Marquez $6 million last time around and Pacquiao is supposedly talking of a twenty million minimum himself. You don?t have to be an MIT graduate to know what that does to Uncle Bob?s bottom line and with cheaper options?including a less expensive Timothy Bradley, currently without an opponent, and the possibility (however slim) of a Robert Guerrero victory over Floyd Mayweather to consider?this fight certainly wouldn?t be the veteran promoter?s first choice. The answer probably lies in the answer to a different question, namely how well Manny Pacquiao is sleeping at night?
He wasn?t just beaten by Marquez, he was very nearly decapitated. In twenty years there will be two Pacquiao highlights indelibly burned upon the fight-fan?s consciousness, that of Ricky Hatton seemingly deboned by a Manny special, and Manny, knocked out just as dangerously and brutally by his definitive rival?a man many insist he has yet to beat clean. Pacquiao seems to be genuinely at peace with himself these days thanks to his discovering a new role for religion in his life, but it is hard to imagine such a devastating knockout loss sitting well with him.
If he gets hurt, I can?t help but think that Marquez has earned it. That sounds ridiculous given the arch of boxing?s popularity and in the light of a wider western economy perched dangerously on the rim of a toilet, but if it is true for anyone it is true for Juan Manuel. He was chiseled out of the Barrera-Morales dynamic early in his career and made bad moves after his amazing draw in his first contest with Pacquiao and if there are tens of millions to be made, why should he not benefit to the fullest financially given the result of the last fight?
?Obviously Manny deserves more,? Freddie Roach told The Sweet Science last week. ?Marquez deserves something but not fifty-fifty.?
At a guess, that?s a negotiation.
