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THE
entire maze regarding the next schedule of Filipino
boxing sensation Manny Pacquiao remains, at least at the
moment, hazy.
 Sources
privy to the negotiations reveal that two factions
within Team Pacquiao are trying to convince the boxer to
listen to their proposals, one wanting Marco Antonio
Barrera while the other is pushing for Juan Manuel
Marquez as the Filipino’s next opponent.
The
Marquez believers are still hopeful the Mexican will be
Pacquiao’s next opponent as the World Boxing Council (WBC)
representatives are reportedly burning the lines in
convincing Marquez to lower his asking price for the
bout to materialize.
The
Mexico-based group recently set a deadline for the
Pacquiao camp and their counterpart in Team Marquez to
work out a deal for their much-awaited title clash.
The
33-year-old Marquez is due for a mandatory title defense
against the top contender in his division who happens to
be Pacquiao.
The WBC
gave both the Marquez and Pacquiao camps until June 18
to finalize a deal but the Filpino’s handlers already
sent a letter stating their disinterest in dealing with
Marquez.
Pacquiao
feels he deserves more money than Marquez despite the
Mexican’s hold of the WBC crown.
Under
the WBC-mandated purse bid, Marquez, being the WBC
champion, should get the bigger purse than Pacquiao who
is the mandatory challenger.
The
33-year-old Marquez is aching to trade mitts anew with
Pacquiao after their epic 12-round bout where the
Mexican came back from three first-round knockdowns
before ending in a split draw three years ago.
Marquez
was then defending his World Boxing Association (WBA)
and International Boxing Federation (IBF) featherweight
titles against Pacquiao, who was at that time Ring
Magazine’s Peoples Featherweight champion.
If their
legal battle drags further, Golden Boy Promotions (GBP)
is set to pit Marquez for a possible rematch with
Barrera or against former World Boxing Organization (WBO)
champion Jorge Barrios on September 16 in an
HBO-televised card.
In
Pacquiao’s web site Pacland, majority of the Filipino
fighter’s followers are drooling over the possibility of
a Pacquiao-Marquez rematch sometime soon.
A
whopping 64 percent of nearly 10,000 distinct hits want
to see Marquez as Pacquiao’s next opponent atop the ring
before the end of the year.
Closely
contesting the second spot but are miles behind Marquez
in the balloting are Barrera (11.5 percent), World
Boxing Association (WBA) champion Edwin Valero (11.1
percent and WBO kingpin Joan Guzman (10.4 percent).
Pacquiao’s recognized promoter Bob Arum, however,
publicly admitting his openness to deal with bitter
promotional rival GBP. He said he will not mind if
eventually, Pacquiao will end up battling his own ward
Humberto Soto of Mexico.
Despite
a recent pronouncement of American trainer Freddie Roach
that Soto poses a real serious threat to Pacquiao, the
Mexican failed poorly in the Pacland web site survey as
he could not even reach 1 percent of the total hits
made.
Soto’s
stock will get a big boost should he score a notable win
over Pacquiao’s kid brother Bobby this Sunday (Manila
time) at the Madison Square Garden in New York.
Arum’s
Top Rank Inc. and GBP, owned by boxing superstar Oscar
Dela Hoya, are at odds over the legal rights to
Pacquiao’s promotional deal.
Pacquiaos promotional deal is still being litigated in
two separate courts in Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
Pacquiao
entered into a seven-fight deal with GBP September of
last year.
After
his three-round conquest of Erik Morales late last year,
Pacquiao signed a similar promotional deal with Top Rank
with a reported $1-million dollar bonus.
Dela
Hoyas GBP has under their wings all of Pacquiaos
potential marquee opponents that include Marquez,
Barrera and Guzman.
Arum
told BusinessMirror before that he had talks with the
camp of Barrera and discussed the possibility of
fighting Pacquiao.
Barrera
is set to meet GBP execs this week to discuss his wish
of a Pacquiao rematch as the Mexican is reportedly still
tied with Dela Hoyas fledgling outfit for one more
fight. |
