By Chris Robinson
According to a report on BoxingScene.com, Juan Manuel Marquez and his team are looking for a new opponent after potential foe David Diaz priced himself out of their proposed July 16th date. Marquez was looking at Diaz as a tune-up heading into his November 12th date against WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao but it looks now like the Mexico City star is looking at other options.
Relaxing in his native Chicago bases at his father-in-law's birthday get-together, Diaz definitely had a few words to get off his chest in regards to Marquez's claims. Seeing that he is a proven veteran and once held the WBC lightweight crown himself, I had to ask Diaz whether he felt a bit slighted throughout the process.
"Yes, I agree on that assumption," Diaz said. "They didn't appreciate that. I mean, he's a two-time world champion, he holds two belts; he's going to get paid and why can't I? I feel that it should have been done but they felt otherwise."
Marquez will likely be collecting a payday in the range of $5 million plus incentives for his fight against Pacquiao, boxing's biggest active cash cow at the moment. While not revealing any exact numbers on what he was offered for his role in the whole ordeal, Diaz did shed a bit of a light onto the situation.
"Just put it this way, I was offered a whole lot less than what I got paid with Morales. Now Morales, at the time when I fought him, supposedly they said he was washed up or whatever but we still put on a good fight and it was a lot less than what they offered me for Morales. It was like a slap in the face," Diaz said, sounding off.
Diaz did mention that he is still open to working something out but guess here is that Marquez will be looking the other way. His fight with Pacquiao, set to take place at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, is arguably the biggest of his career and there are other faces that will rise to the surface.
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