WASHINGTON, D.C.: Juan Manuel Marquez has said he is not interested in a rematch with Manny Pacquiao tentatively tabbed for September but Pacquiao?s promoter and trainer think the lucrative fight would push through as planned.
?Believe me, Pacquiao-Marquez 5 will happen,? Top Rank Chief Executive Bob Arum told The Manila Times on Wednesday in a phone interview. ?Negotiations, this is about negotiations,? Arum said without elaborating.
September 14 fight date The Hall of Fame promoter said he remains confident the Pacquiao-Marquez rematch could be made for September 14, most likely in Las Vegas, venue of all their previous fights.
Pacquiao has indicated he is willing to fight Marquez in Mexico.
Marquez, who is nearing 40, scored the biggest win in his career when he knocked Pacquiao out with a counter-right hand to the jaw in the sixth round of their fourth fight last December 8.
Immediately after the fight, Pacquiao said he wanted a rematch, and Marquez said he would be glad to reciprocate Pacquiao?s gesture of giving him two rematches after the Pinoy icon beat Marquez by a controversial split decision in their second fight.
Marquez, who made about $6 million to Pacquiao?s $23 million in their classic fourth fight last December 8, is expected to make easily double that amount or even more in a fifth bout in what is probably the one of the greatest rivalries in this era.
Pacquiao?s trainer, Freddie Roach, is more confident Pacquiao-Marquez 5 will push through because of the sheer magnitude of that fight. ? What other fight for him is out there? Is he going to fight [Floyd] Mayweather again? Can he beat Mayweather? He got killed by Mayweather. So what?s the biggest fight out there?? said Roach who insisted Pacquiao remains the biggest fight for Marquez.
Record paycheck Roach suggested that Marquez is playing hard-to-get to make the most of what could be the biggest paycheck for the Mexican counter-puncher.
?He?ll negotiate when [the fight] gets closer, I?m not worried about that,? Roach told BoxingScene.com. ?He really doesn?t have anything else.
[WBO welterweight champ Timothy] Bradley and all of those other guys out there, he?s not going to make the money that he would for Pacquiao.?
Roach said that because of the interest generated by the fourth fight, which he described as the best in the series, ?both ways,? the projected September fight ?would be bigger than Mayweather-Pacquiao right now.?
?The fourth fight may have been the best one, both ways. It was back and forth, both guys were on the deck,? Roach said. ?In this one [fifth fight], both of them will make a lot of money. I?m not worried about negotiations. Bob Arum will do his job.?
?No Mas? In an interview with Record magazine, Marquez said he saw no reason why he should fight Pacquiao again.
?Regarding the fifth fight against Pacquiao, there is nothing left to it and I?m not interested in doing it, there?s no point because I already cleared any doubts and I accomplished my objective,? said Marquez.
?The most important thing is that I finished this in the most positive manner for me, and I don?t think that the fans are interested in a rematch between us,? he added.
Marquez said the fourth fight was the best opportunity for him to prove he was better than Pacquiao, stressing the best way to do it was by a winning by knockout.
He suggested that he earned the rematches Pacquiao had given him.
?When he gave me that [fourth fight], Manny Pacquiao also gave it to himself because he wanted to win and make it very clear as well. Besides, I won that right for a rematch throughout the three previous fights,? Marquez said.
