Pacquiao may clash with Marquez a fourth time
A FOURTH installment of the heralded Manny Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez face-off is in the offing. And, chances are, it will no longer be staged in LasVegas but in Marquez’s turf— Mexico City.
Fernando Beltran of Zanfer Promotions, which manages Marquez, told Miguel Rivera of BoxingScene.com Wednesday (Thursday in Manila) that his group has initiated discussions with Pacquiao’s representatives and these “have gone well.”
“Having (the fight in Mexico) is not being viewed as a bad thing,” said Beltran. “There are many benefits to having the Pacquiao fight made there.”
Beltran is said to be so enamored with Pacquiao-Marquez IV that he has vowed to bring the showdown—projected to be held in Nov-ember—to the spanking-new Arena Mexico.
The indoor Arena has a maximum capacity of 22,300 although it can only accommodate 16,500 when reconfigured for a boxing event.
In their first fight in 2004, Marquez survived three first-round knockdowns to salvage a draw with Pacquiao, who won the return bout in 2008 by split decision on the strength of a third-round knockdown.
Last November, Pacquiao repeated over Marquez by majority decision.
Beltran believes that Mexico, the boxing fans, and Marquez deserve the final battle with Pacquiao, who is well-loved in the country despite his tag as “Mexican assassin.”
