By: James Blears

The management of jilted  WBA and  IBF Featherweight Champion Juan Manuel Marquez is negotiating to clinch a fight with IBF Super Bantamweight, and fellow Mexican Israel Vazquez.

This development comes after Marquez’s fight with Filipino sensation Manny Pacquiao, scheduled for February 26th, bit the dust due to an insoluble dispute involving the purse. Marquez’s Manager Ignacio Beristain insisted that as a double world champion, Juan must get the lions share of the purse.  Pacquiao had been guaranteed 900,000 dollars, by his Promoter Murad Muhammad, but Marquez was offered 750,000 by Top Rank.

It’s an ill wind…and Erik Morales will now fight Manny Pacquiao in the Super Featherweight division at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on March 19th.

A fight against Vazquez  for Juan Manuel Marquez would mean a cut in weight (four pounds), and a pay cut too, and hopefully be on the same bill as Miguel Cotto.  Ignacio Beristain put it this way :

“An important fight has fallen apart, but we were not going to give in to the whims of the promoter.  It’s obvious that the promoter is not Mother Teresa of Calcutta. He’s an experimental type. My fighter has dignity. This has been a bad experience, but nothing more. And we’ll have more successes. We are trying to get Israel Vazquez, but with the  behaviour of these type of people, we don’t have certainty.”

Beristain revealed the rupture in negotiations  came during a conference call with the Promoters from the office of his lawyer Fredrick Levin, in Florida. On the other end of the line were Bob Arum, Todd Du Boef, Fernando Beltran and Pacquiao’s management. Beristain confirmed it was he that had said no because the situation was ridiculous and the Marquez camp was also not prepared to sign another contract for six years.

Juan Manuel Marquez was curt and succinct. He said; “I’m very angry and even more motivated to show what I can do as a world champion.”

Marquez explained that he’d signed a contract with Top Rank in 2000, for three years. But it had a clause that if he won a world title, it would extend for five defenses or two years.  After becoming a world champion, he’s successfully come through four  defenses, but the initial intended fight against Derrick Gainer was postponed because Gainer tore a pectoral muscle, so Marcos Licona was a late replacement. If this is counted as a defense, then Marquez has one more fight to go, until he’s completed his contract. If not he’ll fight once again, probably in May.

Manny Pacquiao has already inflicted some sizeable dents on the pride of Mexico. He walloped Marco Antonio Barrera, and put Juan Manuel Marquez down thrice in round one, before Marquez collected his wits and reverted to boxing rather than slugging, to gain a draw.

Now it’s Erik Morales’ turn to try and turn the tables.  Manny’s trainer  Freddie Roach says Morales will be a less complicated rival for Manny than Juan Manuel Marquez and  Ignacio Beristain readily agrees. He said; “Erik’s coming off a loss and he’s got one difficult fight coming up. I think It’ll be more difficult for him to fight Pacquiao than when he fought Barrera. Manny’s style is more complicated, than Marco’s, and I could be wrong, but I think Erik’s going to loose this fight.”

Beristain also confirmed that he’s getting lots of inquiries from interested parties inquiring about the near future, and he said: “Lots of people seem to be concerned about me, but but I’ve told them not to worry, and to look after their own problems. I’ll resolve mine. They’re opportunists and they think Mexicans don’t have intelligence.”

Beristain suggested that once Juan is a free agent, a fight against WBO Featherweight champion Scott Harrison would be an attractive prospect if the money was sufficient and if the fight was on neutral canvass, in the United States. Between them, they hold three of the four versions of the title.