LOS ANGELES ? Juan Manuel Marquez, after all, is not too keen on fighting Manny Pacquiao soon.
The dethroned champion from Mexico said upon his return from Las Vegas that he intends to take a long rest before climbing back into the ring either in September or October.
?I am going to rest first for a couple of months and in September or October I can return to fight,? Marquez, who yielded his WBC super-featherweight crown to Pacquiao last Saturday, told the Mexican media.
Marquez said he wants to fight Pacquiao a third time, and even said he would do this at any weight, whether at 130 lbs (super-featherweight) or 135 lbs (lightweight). The first time they met in 2004 was at 126 lbs (featherweight).
?I can fight him in whatever weight he wants to fight,? said Marquez, who said the other day upon coming home that he still feels he won the fight, a very close one that lasted 12 rounds, non-stop action.
?In the first fight he knocked me down three times and it was a tie. Now he knocked me down only once and he beat me,? said Marquez, hoping that he can have one last shot at Pacquiao.
And finally settle the ?Unfinished Business.?
Marquez saying he plans to fight in September or October somehow clears the path for a Pacquiao fight with WBC lightweight champion David Diaz on June 28 also at Mandalay Bay.
If this happens, Pacquiao gets a chance at another world crown, and become one of the very few boxers to win four titles under different weight classes. So far he?s the only one from Asia to win three, including the world flyweight and bantamweight titles.
?If we beat Diaz, then that?s the title we?re going to defend,? said Top Rank?s Bob Arum, who may get his wish of Pacquiao fighting Diaz next, and defending the title against Marquez later on.
Suddenly things seem to be falling into place for Pacquiao.
