Pacquiao says Mayweather Jr., Marquez lead list of next possible foe

Manny Pacquiao: Either Mayweather, Marquez or Bradley.

MANILA, Philippines—It’s a three-way race for a juicy fight against Manny Pacquiao in May, with Floyd Mayweather Jr. ahead and Juan Manuel Marquez giving a spirited chase.

Lagging behind is World Boxing Organization light welterweight champion Timothy Bradley.

In a dinner with sports journalists Monday, Pacquiao said negotiations are going on for his next bout after scraping past Marquez in their third fight on Nov. 12 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

A bout with Mayweather, the unbeaten World Boxing Council welterweight champion, stands to be the most lucrative in the history of the sport with both boxers projected to earn at least $50 million.

Chances of the once derailed Pacquiao-Mayweather tiff pushing through got a boost when Mike Koncz, Pacquiao’s Canadian adviser, visited the camp of the flamboyant American for a new round of exploratory talks recently.

The bout is deemed too big that several quarters, including foreign investors from the Middle East and Asia, have expressed interest to undertake the gargantuan project that could shatter the record 2.4 million pay-per-view buys posted when Mayweather fought and edged Oscar De La Hoya in 2008.

But the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight could be a victim of its own magnitude, with would-be investors trying to figure out how to recoup the money they’ll put up to get the two fighters on the ring against each other.

Apart from the blood testing protocol to be used, the sharing of PPV revenues is a crucial issue for the fight to be forged.

Pacquiao’s PPV stock increased after his third fight against Marquez generated a personal-best of more than 1.3 million buys, surpassing the Mayweather-Victor Ortiz showdown, which reportedly drew 1.25M hits.

Marquez wants a fourth bout with the Filipino pound-for-pound king, claiming that he was again deprived of a victory by the judges, who rewarded Pacquiao with a very close majority decision instead.

Leaving fight negotiations to his promoter, Bob Arum, Pacquiao, who was accompanied by wife Jinkee at the Harbour View Restaurant, said he would be staging a $60,000 10-ball billiards tournament and a P1,000,000 darts event as soon as possible.