By Steve Kim
In the immediate aftermath of Jesse Vargas (27-1, 10KOs) winning the vacant WBO welterweight title by upsetting Sadam Ali with a ninth round stoppage at the DC Armory in Washington DC this past Saturday night, his promoter - Bob Arum of Top Rank - spoke openly of Vargas facing the winner of the April 9th trilogy bout between Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley.
Vargas has always wanted to face Pacquiao and feels that there is unfinished business with Bradley after losing a twelve round decision to 'Desert Storm' last year.
But how bout a potential match-up between Vargas and former four division world champion Juan Manuel Marquez (56-7-1, 40KOs), who is slated to return to the ring in 2016?
"Why not, what a great idea," said Arum on Monday morning when that fight was brought up.
"It never occurred to me. Marquez is dying to fight a welterweight championship fight. Let me make a couple of calls, I'll give you a little piece,"joked Arum, who did call Marquez's promoter, Fernando Beltran later on in the day.
According to Arum,"Juan Manuel is in Miami, so he'll be back in Mexico on Wednesday."
It's not clear just how many fights Marquez has left in him.
"I don't know,"admitted Arum. "He left that open but he wants to fight for the welterweight championship. There's something about winning a welterweight championship to him."
Marquez was last seen on the ring on May 17th, 2014, when he out-pointed Mike Alvarado over twelve rounds at the Forum in Los Angeles. He's expressed the desire to do two fights in 2016 before announcing his retirement from the sport.
Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com
