IT SEEMS Manny Pacquiao is no longer interested in fighting for his third world title.
For the rest of the year, the former two-time world champion will have to content himself with the “People’s Champion” label after he gave up the slot that would have earned him a crack at the World Boxing Council (WBC) belt.
Pacquiao wrote the WBC and asked its president, Jose Sulaiman, to give the mandatory challenger status to another fighter.
A report in a national daily quoted Michael Koncz, Pacquiao’s Canadian confidant, saying the General Santos City puncher signed a three-paragraph letter asking Sulaiman to designate another challenger to Juan Manuel Marquez’s September fight.
This decision is sure to disappoint fans since a recent poll in the mannypacquiao.ph website showed 64 percent of some 7,000 voters preferred a rematch with Marquez.
The WBC has named Pacquiao as the mandatory challenger to then WBC super featherweight champion Marco Antonio Barrera in Oct. 26 last year during its Convention in Croatia.
Negotiation
Barrera lost his belt to Marquez last March and just last week WBC ordered the camps of Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez to a free negotiation and gave them a June 18 deadline. If the deadline passes, a purse bid will follow.
However, it is difficult for Top Rank (Pacquiao’s promotional outfit) and Golden Boy Promotions (Marquez’s promoters) to come up with a deal because they are currently locked in a court battle for the right to promote the Filipino warrior.
Bigger
Top Rank’s Bob Arum also said they will never participate in a purse bid because the bigger share of the purse will go to Marquez, who Arum thinks isn’t the attraction.
This latest move means Marquez will likely face Barrera anew in his first title defense.
Still giving up the Marquez fight doesn’t mean Pacquiao won’t make his ring return soon.
The former WBC flyweight and IBF super bantamweight champion has been shopping for an opponent lately following his electoral defeat in General Santos City.
Though he has given up on the WBC belt, Pacquiao can still get a crack for the world title as he is also ranked the No.1 contender to WBA champion Edwin Valero of Venezuela. He is also No.2 behind Manuel Medina to IBF champion Mzonke Fana of South Africa and is the No.1 challenger to WBO ruler Joan Guzman of the Dominican Republic.
Arum is working on a Pacquiao vs. Guzman fight in October though it is still not clear whether Guzman will put his WBO title on the line.
