All Manny Pacquiao has to do is get on a plane to New York on Feb. 20, meet with promoter Murad Muhammad and HBO executives two days later and sign on the dotted line for the title fight against Juan Manuel Marquez for it to become a done deal.
Veteran HBO commentator Larry Merchant said yesterday that 2004 will be one of the best years for HBO because among the fights lined up by the
preeminent boxing network was the showdown between Pacquiao and Marquez for the 30-year-old Mexican?s World Boxing Association and International Boxing Federation featherweight titles.
Earlier, Top Rank president Bob Arum said he and Murad had come to terms on a Marquez-Pacquiao title fight. Arum appeared to be one of the few people in his organization that hasn?t been suspected of fixing fights or engaging in any other illegal activity by the FBI which raided his headquarters and carted away lots of files, diskettes and computers.
