By Keith Idec
As much as Bob Arum would prefer it if Juan Manuel Marquez would change his mind, Marquez’s co-promoter understands why Marquez hasn’t agreed to fight Manny Pacquiao a fifth time.
“Unlike many of these fighters, Marquez is an accountant,” Arum said. “He saved much of his money and made some very safe investments. So truly, for Marquez money is not a factor. And he figures that there is no way he can do better against Manny than he did last year. And he’s right. How much better could you be?”
That hasn’t stopped Arum and fellow co-promoter Fernando Beltran from trying to convince Marquez to oppose Pacquiao again. The Philippines’ Pacquiao, whom Mexico’s Marquez knocked unconscious with one punch in the sixth round of their fourth fight a year ago in Las Vegas, is expected to fight again April 12 in Las Vegas.
The 34-year-old Pacquiao (55-5-2, 38 KOs) made an impressive comeback from the Marquez loss by beating Brandon Rios (31-2-1, 23 KOs) easily in their 12-round welterweight fight Nov. 23 in Macau, China. The 40-year-old Marquez (55-7-1, 40 KOs) lost his last fight to Timothy Bradley (31-0, 12 KOs, 1 NC), who out-boxed Marquez on his way to a 12-round, split-decision win Oct. 12 in Las Vegas.
Marquez reportedly has informed Beltran that he intends to fight twice more before retiring. Arum hasn’t ruled out Marquez as a potential opponent for Pacquiao on April 12, but the Hall-of-Fame promoter acknowledged it’s more likely Pacquiao will box Bradley in a rematch of their highly controversial June 2012 fight or Russia’s Ruslan Provodnikov (23-2, 16 KOs).
Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.