Pacquiao-Marquez 5 still up in the air

By: Celest R. Flores - 10 years ago

Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Márquez. AP FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Juan Manuel Marquez’s convincing unanimous decision victory over Mike Alvarado Saturday (Sunday, Manila time) sets him up as a mandatory challenger for the World Boxing Organization welterweight championship held by Manny Pacquiao.

The 40-year-old Mexican boxer, though, remained non-committal on fighting his Filipino boxing rival for the fifth time.

“We’ll relax. I don’t know at the moment,” answered Marquez through a translator when asked by HBO’s Max Kellerman about Pacquiao. “Any decision I make will be the best for me, my family, and the fans.”

Top Rank honcho Bob Arum has said that Pacquiao is interested in fighting the winner of the Marquez-Alvarado match, but the Hall-of-Fame promoter cleared that Marquez could either reject or accept his offer.

“I haven’t, and there is nothing contractual with the two fighters that are fighting Saturday, but they know I will offer the winner a fight with Manny and it’s up to the winner to accept or reject it. So that’s where we stand and if I hear that the winner will be interested in fighting Manny in the fall, and Manny has agreed to fight the winner, so I would say that once we got the terms straightened out it would be a done deal,” Arum said in a story on boxingnews24.com.

If both fighters agree to a contract, the megafight could happen in Macau, China this November and not in the United States like in the previous four meetings.

Another fight gives Pacquiao a chance to avenge his stunning, one-punch knockout setback to Marquez in the sixth round of their fourth fight back in December 2012.