Arum predicts a blockbuster

MANILA—As in their first two fights, Mexican legend Juan Manuel Marquez will engage pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao toe to toe in their scheduled WBO welterweight title fight on Nov. 12 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum made this assurance, saying Marquez is excited over the chance to face Pacquiao in a third fight which he has long been angling for.

Photo by Joe Cavaretta, AP

“Marquez will come to fight, absolutely,” Arum told the Inquirer Wednesday. “People should know that if they fight Manny Pacquiao it’s like winning a lottery. So that’s good for everybody.
“[Marquez] thinks he can beat Manny and that’s good, so it will be a very interesting fight.”
Pacquiao dropped Marquez three times in the first round of their first fight for the WBA/ IBF super featherweight title in May 2004.
That fight ended in controversy when, after Marquez counterpunched his way to a draw, judge Burt Clements later admitted he erred in scoring the first round 10-7 for Pacquiao when it should have been 10-6 as the two other judges scored.
In their rematch on March 15, 2008, Pacquiao won a split decision to grab the WBC super featherweight title from Marquez. Pacquiao’s third-round knockdown of Marquez earned him the nod of two of the three judges.
Arum said that Marquez will take on former WBC champ David Diaz  (36-3-1, 17 KOs) on July 2 in Mexico City “to get the rust off him.”
If Marquez loses to Diaz, who was demolished by Pacquiao in nine rounds in June 2008, Arum said “we’ll get another opponent” for Pacquiao.
Arum revealed that he had dinner with Pacquiao’s adviser Michael Koncz and that Koncz would “bring our agreement to Manny and hopefully he will agree to everything.”