Pacquiao left with few options after Marquez and Bradley come to terms
Manny Pacquiao’s hopes for either a fifth fight with Mexican legend Juan Manuel Marquez or a rematch with Timothy “Desert Storm” Bradley on his planned return to the ring in the second week of October have been dashed for the time being at least as Marquez has signed up to fight Bradley for the American’s welterweight title.
When Yahoo! Philippines called Pacquiao’s adviser Michael Koncz for a reaction on the supposed done deal, he was surprised. He told us, “I spoke to Bob Arum at ten o’clock this morning and he never told me anything about a Marquez-Bradley fight being signed, sealed and delivered. “
At the same time Koncz revealed that he had been authorized by Pacquiao as early as last week to offer Marquez $13 million for a fifth fight and also relayed an offer of $6 million to the Bradley camp, both of which were coursed through Arum.
RELATED: Marquez to face Bradley in September - report
It’s hard to understand why both Marquez and Bradley rejected what obviously were excellent offers, although Marquez hinted at a reluctance to fight in Asia, which is what Pacquiao is insisting upon.
Bradley’s manager Cameron Dunkin, who told us in New York that a rematch with Pacquiao would make the most sense as well as the most money for Bradley, told Yahoo! Philippines earlier Wednesday that they had reached an agreement to fight Marquez at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas on September 14 and that “the money was good.”
However, Dunkin, who deals mainly with Top Rank president Todd duBeof and not promoter and top honcho Bob Arum, revealed that a few pesky details have to be ironed out to close the deal, including who gets top billing, who enters the ring first and such trivialities although the main issue of the purse has been agreed upon.
Dunkin said he had discussed the remaining details with duBeof who assured him that he would work things out.
The agreement on a Marquez-Bradley fight effectively sidelines Pacquiao who, after his stunning 6th round knockout loss to Marquez last December 8 in Las Vegas, had persistently indicated his desire to fight Marquez one more time this year.
Now it seems it’s not Pacquiao who does the choosing and he’s been left to face the leftovers as a result of both Marquez and Bradley wanting to fight each other.
RELATED: Will it be Alvarado for Pacquiao?
It amounts to a showdown between the two men who beat Pacquiao, no matter how one looks at Bradley’s hugely controversial split decision win over Pacquiao and Marquez’s bulked-up physique on the night he scored that knockout.
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum made it clear after the sensational knockout victory of Marquez that he would insist on Marquez and Pacquiao undergoing random drug tests.
Los Angeles Times Lance Pugmire reports that Marquez has agreed to subject himself to random drug tests to be conducted by the Voluntary Anti Doping Association while he trains in Mexico for the Bradley fight. However, trainer “Memo” Heredia said that Marquez would be subject to random drug tests by the US Anti Doping Agency.
Whatever it is, it does signify a meaningful breakthrough in the growing effort to keep the fight game clean as former super bantamweight Nonito “The Filipino Flash” set the tone by voluntarily undergoing year-round random drugs tests and pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr and Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero also agreeing to the tests leading up to their May 4 brawl in Las Vegas.
In Dunkin’s opinion the only alternatives left for Pacquiao, who is likely to return to the ring on the second week of October in the Venetian Resort Hotel in Macau or Singapore, is a fight with Brandon “Bam, Bam” Rios or Mike Alvarado, who lost his first showdown with Rios by a 7th round TKO but won the rematch in a twelve round unanimous decision.
The manager of Rios said he is working on the fight which is apparently something that Pacquiao adviser Michael Koncz prefers prior to a possible fifth fight with Marquez who he believes would be a dangerous opponent at this point although there is clearly more money to be made on the pay per view end.
Pacquiao’s insistence on fighting in Macau or Singapore in order to avoid the huge, almost 40 percent tax cut if he fought in the US, didn’t sit well with Marquez, who isn’t convinced that the pay-per-view income would be as substantial as if they fight in Las Vegas again.
A fight in Asia would also mean entering the ring around 11:00AM in order to reach a vast US audience on prime time, and Marquez isn’t sure it would cut it.
Marquez is apparently obsessed with the quest for a world title in a fifth weight division and sees the Bradley fight as a real opportunity to achieve that goal by beating the hitherto undefeated Bradley, who was given a seriously questionable decision over Pacquiao in 2012 and in his last fight survived a 12th-round knockdown to edge Pacquiao’s chief sparring partner, Russia’s Ruslan Provodnikov last month at Home Depot Center in Carson City, California.
Should Marquez win over Bradley he would then get a chance to see what kind of pay-per-view sales Pacquiao can generate in a fight against Rios or Alvarado at the Venetian Resort Hotel in Macau or Singapore.
Pacquiao, who is running unopposed for re-election in the lone congressional district of Sarangani province, is deeply engrossed in the May 10 elections where his wife Jinkee is a candidate for vice governor and brother Rogelio is seeking the congressional seat in General Santos City against the incumbent and a friend of Pacquiaoa, one-time Mayor Acharon.
Arum understands that Pacquiao will decide on who to fight after the votes are counted this May.
Editor's note: The blogger's views do not represent Yahoo! Southeast Asia's position on the topic or issue being discussed in this post.
