By Ronnie Nathanielsz

Even as he expected the Manny Pacquiao-Antonio Margarito fight to push through on November 13, Pacquiao’s conditioning expert Alex Ariza indicated that if there was a decision to replace Margarito due to his inability to get a license in Texas - then a credible replacement would be lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez - which he said “is a good fight” although Ariza noted he didn’t know the status of the relationship between Top Rank promoter Bob Arum and Golden Boy Promotions, who promote Marquez.

 

Ariza said “that’s a fight people would like to see since Marquez is still crying for it. If he’s crying for a beating, let’s give it to him. In that way Manny will solidify  the fact that he was bothered by the physical issues that he had at that time with his legs and his shoulder.”

 

Pacquiao dropped Marquez three times in the opening round in their first fight but the Mexican counter-punched his way to salvage a draw. In their rematch which was also close and somewhat controversial, Pacquiao dropped Marquez once and that is believed to have made the difference in the Filipino’s split decision victory.

 

Prior to his lopsided beating by Floyd Mayweather Jr last September, Marquez  appealed even to us to help him get a rematch with Pacquiao, but trainer Freddie Roach, as well as members of Team Pacquiao, said there was no point in a third fight with Marquez who was not a particularly big draw and that there were bigger fights ahead for the “Fighter of the Decade.”