REPORT says Marquez threatens to back out from his scheduled fight with Manny Pacquiao in February, unless they increase his purse to $1.5 million. Marquez is allegedly irked at being given less than they are giving Manny. Top Rank promoter Bob Arum and company, are allegedly putting up only $750,000 for Marquez, while they are giving Manny $900,00. Marquez reportedly said that he being the champion deserves to get what is due a champion, and would not sign the contract until he gets the better end of the bargain.
We can understand perfectly the feeling of the Mexican. He knows he is going to undergo hell in facing Pacquio in the ring. He knows that the possibility of losing his title, which he still holds only by virtue of a supposed scoring error of one of the judges in their previous fight that resulted in a draw, is very great. Pacquiao should have won that one had this judge scored it correctly the first round where Manny knocked down Marquez three times.
Well, that’s history and we know better. For the possibility of getting beat up silly, who would not demand a bigger compensation? I wouldn’t go through hell for a measly one million dollars, let alone $750,000. Besides, if one would lose his title(s), which is very, very possible, who would get him another money fight afterwards? So, why not get while the getting is good?
Some people are saying that Manny is out of shape and can lose this fight. That Manny prefers to attend to his acting in TV commercials than train for this big fight. That he is very much out of condition for such a very important outing. That is very unkind of them. Manny knows which side of his bread is buttered. He also knows when he is out of shape. Besides, he knows how to do his job when the time comes. Let’s stop trying to run the affairs of other people, shall we? How much have we contributed in order to get Manny up there where he is now? Let’s stop being bigots.
If he really is out of shape as some would have it understood, I don’t think he would venture into that ring and get beat. Manny had trained for his Phasun 3K Battery fight and could not have lost his condition that quickly. Besides, we do not know that he is not doing some work in the interim.
Manny is not that stupid, not after he had learned that painful lesson in that Megdeon affair in Thailand a few years back. But that is different. He had become too heavy for that fight and could not shed enough weight to make it in just a few hours before official weigh-in. This time he is not going to shed weight.
An athlete, before he is thirty, can get into shape really fast. In Manny’s case, two weeks roadwork and sparring sessions, are sufficient to get back into shape. Another week for honing the reflexes would be enough. He had fought Marquez before and he knows now what button to press. It would certainly be a different scenario, mark that. That is if Marquez would not turn yellow tail.
