The rematch between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez has been sealed, and this early Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is predicting a knockout victory by the Filipino superstar.
?Manny is going to knock him out,? said Arum yesterday through an espn.com report also saying that the anticipated rematch will be held March 15 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
Further details will be announced in a press conference in Los Angeles on Dec. 20. Arum said Pacquiao will stay on in the US for the Christmas holidays, and will begin training under Freddie Roach.
Arum said Pacquiao has decided to stay at 130 lbs, and go after the WBC super-featherweight crown being held by Marquez who desperately sought the fight that ?everybody wanted to see.?
Marquez got what he wanted or what he?s been wanting since 2004.
?The credit really goes to Marquez because he really, really wanted this fight,? Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer said. ?He knows there is unfinished business between them.
?Manny, he wanted to fight the guy he could make the most money against. But Juan Manuel Marquez really did his part to make this fight. He agreed to accept the terms, which really are heavily in favor of Pacquiao.?
Schaeffer said it wasn?t really about the money as far as Marquez was concerned.
?But it was about him standing up there and showing all the Mexicans that, ?Hey, you know that this guy (Pacquiao) beat two legends, Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales, but now I?m going to show Pacquiao what Mexican fighters are all about.? That is what motivates him. He knows with a victory over Pacquiao that his name will be considered right there with Morales and Barrera.?
Arum said Pacquiao had considered moving up to 135 lbs (lightweight) and take on WBC champion David Diaz. But during the negotiations with Golden Boy and Marquez, a chord was struck.
?(At first) the money wasn?t quite right on our side for Marquez as it was against Diaz. But then Schaefer really went to work and did a really great job with Marquez, and that enabled me to tell Manny that it was going to be virtually the same money for him to fight Marquez as it would be to fight Diaz with an upside on a Marquez fight that could be larger, because it would be trumpeted as a bigger fight,? said Arum.
