There have been some pretty striking reports floating around as to the future of lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez. It’s common knowledge that the Mexico City fighter appears to have two options at this point in his career; either sign a lucrative deal with Golden Boy Promotions and look towards a summer showdown with Zab Judah or pursue a desired third fight with rival Manny Pacquiao.
Marquez fought Pacquiao to a hotly-contested draw in May of 2004 and dropped a split-decision to him nearly four years after. To this day the 37-year old claims that he deserved to win both fights and Pacquiao is definitely like a thorn in his side.
Perhaps that it why it seems more and more likely that Marquez may be looking towards a reunion with Top Rank promotions in pursuit of a third tussle with the Filipino star. According to Golden Boy Promotions’ CEO Richard Schaefer, the wheels are already in place for the fight to happen despite Pacquiao less than two weeks away from a fight with Shane Mosley inside of the MGM Grand.
“Top Rank did forward us a copy of a letter, which they wrote to Juan Manuel Marquez offering him the fight with Manny Pacquiao in October for Pacquiao’s 147-pound WBO belt. There were specific financial information, of course, such as an advance, guaranteed purse, and upside participation,” Schaefer recently told our friends at BoxingScene.com.
News flash: Naazim Richardson says Mosley can still be extraordinary against Pacquiao Mosley was the center of attention on early Tuesday as he hosted an international media conference call to talk about his challenge of Pacquiao’s WBO welterweight strap. When asked whether it bothered him that Top Rank was looking past him towards making a fight with Marquez for their prized star, Mosley shook it off.
“That’s fine,” Mosley said. “Sometimes you have to look to that next fight, ahead of time. That’s what makes Top Rank a good promotion. They look to the future. But it’s not for me to think that way. We have to think about May 7th.”
Trying to get a little more information on the recent Pacquiao-Marquez III rumors, ESPN’s Dan Rafael reached out to Bob Arum during the conference and asked him if it was indeed true that Top Rank had been actively pursuing the fight. But Arum was in no mood for playing around and quickly shot the topic down, showing some definite displeasure in his voice.
“You take whatever Schaefer says as gospel as we’ll leave it at that,” said Arum. “We have no comment on whether we are offering a fight because Manny has a very tough fight with Shane Mosley. Just carry on and listen to Schaefer all you want. I’m not saying anything. I said what I said.”
Tension is definitely in the air as Top Rank and Golden Boy maneuver for leverage in landing Marquez, who is as hot of a commodity as he has ever been at this point in his career. It will be fun seeing how this all plays out.
