Marquez longs for a 3rd crack

LAS VEGAS—Juan Manuel Marquez was a keen observer at ringside when Manny Pacquiao overwhelmed Shane Mosley Saturday night.

The WBA and WBO lightweight champion heads the cast of those being lined up to face Pacquiao next.

The 37-year-old Marquez, who gave Pacquiao two of his toughest fights when the Filipino icon was still not jumping to higher weight classes, said: “I like to fight Manny.”

This despite seeing Pacquiao send Mosley, who’s at least 10 pounds heavier, to the canvas in the third round.

Manny Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach also felt that Marquez was the ideal next opponent for his fighter.

Two great fights

“They have history and those were two great fights,” Roach told Reuters.

“I hate it when he (Marquez) says that he was robbed because there was no robbery in either fight. They were very close fights and could have gone either way. So I would love to fight him one more time just to shut him up, I really would.

“If (Floyd) Mayweather doesn’t come to the table, I think Marquez is going to be our next opponent because we are running out of opponents. He is sellable. The Mexican market is huge in boxing and they would love to see that fight one more time.”

Marquez admitted to Filipino sportswriters that there’s a pending offer from Top Rank of Bob Arum for him to stage a trilogy with Pacquiao in November in Las Vegas.

According to the Mexican great, he’s studying the proposal and will present the revisions to Top Rank on Monday.

But first, Marquez has to consider whether his promoting arm, Golden Boy Promotions, would match Top Rank’s offer, which is reportedly $5 million, which is the same as Mosley’s purse.

If GBP does match the offer, Top rank can do nothing but look for another fighter to pit against Pacquiao, who’s now regarded as the cash cow of boxing.

There are so many fighters desiring to tangle with the eight-division champion for the simple reason that it would give them the biggest purse.

Marquez held Pacquiao to a draw despite getting knocked down three times in the first round in their first meeting before losing by split decision in the second.

While Marquez gets Roach’s vote as Pacquiao’s next opponent, the shrewd trainer said the Mexican, a natural lightweight, would have to come up in weight. “He is just going to have to come to 147 (pounds) and I think that he might be a little bit too small for that weight,” Roach said.

“He might want to fight at a catchweight or something like that. But Manny’s weight class is 147 right now and that is what we are going to fight at.” With a report from Reuters