According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, Pound for Pound king Manny Pacquiao looks like he could be meeting currant Lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez for a third time after Marquez agreed to terms for a possible fight November 12 in Las Vegas.
The bout would be at a contract weight of 144 pounds.
“Manny has to eat extra meals just to weigh even 145 pounds,” Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum said.
The report indicated that Marquez would face former Lightweight champion David Diaz on July 2nd in a tuneup bout before the fight with Pacquiao.
“He’s going to do that fight, and if he loses, he’s out,” Arum said.
“It’s the same old story — styles make fights, and, for some reason, I believe if we fight Marquez 10 times, we will have controversy 10 times because he’s figured something out about Manny that no other fighter can do,” Michael Koncz, Pacquiao’s adviser, told ESPN.com. “We’ve had him down three times, but he’s able to adapt and adjust. I think it will be a very close fight again if we decide to pick that fight. The question is, what is Manny’s monetary reward?”
Golden Boy Promotions Richard Schaefer had the right to match any terms of a Marquez fight but chose not to and that paved the way for the fight.
“He told us we could go ahead with Marquez.” Arum referring to Schaefer’s response.
“I can’t really talk about anything right now based on the advice of my lawyers,” Schaefer told ESPN.com in an email.
“Marquez is definitely the frontrunner we’re looking at, but I have not yet sat down with Bob to discuss our financial deal,” Koncz said. “Bob and I will do that this week before I leave to go see Manny in the Philippines on Sunday. I’ll talk with Bob and see what his offer for Manny’s purse is and all the other things involved, and then I will take that to Manny. I have the parameters from Manny, but Bob and I have not yet had a meeting of the minds.
“Bob has one component for the fight, but he needs two. We have not agreed to the fight or the terms, but we are certainly discussing it. We’ve always been able to come to an agreement.”
“We will listen to both networks and make our decision based on who is contributing the most valuable assets to the promotion,” Arum said. “Who is going to give us the best platform to promote the fight will get the fight.”
Arum said the fight almost assuredly will be at the MGM Grand, even though there are overseas venues interested in making offers.
“I’ve been spending my life with these offers from Singapore, Macau, Dubai,” Arum said. “As far as I am concerned the only offer to cash in on are the ones from the MGM and Cowboys Stadium [where Pacquiao fought twice in 2010].”
Arum said Marquez is the only legitimate option he is looking at for Pacquiao. He mentioned Zab Judah and Timothy Bradley Jr., both junior welterweight titleholders, as alternatives to Marquez immediately after Pacquiao beat Mosley, but he said neither are likely.
“Bradley I cannot talk to because he is still under contract to Gary Shaw, even if he is unhappy,” Arum said. “His contract allegedly runs out at a certain point soon, but not yet. So I’m not going to go there. I could make a deal with [Main Events promoter] Kathy Duva for a Judah fight in five minutes, but that is not my plan. If [Pacquiao] wants to explore Judah, I’ll explore Judah.”
