By Rick Reeno
WBO/WBA lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez (52-5, 38KOs) has a lot of options on the table. The three division champion is scheduled to sit down with Golden Boy Promotions in the next few days to discuss his next fight, which is tentative for April 9 in Las Vegas.
Among the possibilities - fellow three division champion Erik Morales (51-6, 35KOs), WBA junior welterweight champion Amir Khan (24-1, 17KOs), former champion Robert Guerrero (28-1, 18KOs) and even Marcos Maidana (29-2, 27KOs).
BoxingScene.com spoke with Eric Gomez, head matchmaker for Golden Boy, who explained the current situation with Marquez and the numerous possibilities for the Mexican boxer's April ring return.
Among the possibilities is the Mexican grudge match with Morales. The potential fight has received a lot of coverage in the Mexican media. There is some animosity between the two fighters from when they were stablemates under the Top Rank promotional banner.
"I think that there is a good chance that the Morales fight can happen. Morales is just waiting for us to make him an offer. He really wants the fight. He says that he's always wanted to fight Marquez, and that he never ducked him. Marquez says that he was ducking him. So there are some storylines there and some animosity from the past," Gomez told BoxingScene.com.
Morales is a good possibility but far from the only option, says Gomez. Marquez wants to discuss all of the possible fights on the table, and which option presents the most money.
"Basically, Marquez wants to sit down and go over numbers to see what's the most profitable fight. At this point in his career, he wants to make the big money. It's a matter of getting together with him and sitting down with him and seeing what he wants," Gomez said.
"He made a comment the other day that a Maidana fight would be very exciting. I don't know if he was fooling around or what, but he said 'that would be a fun fight.'"
Marquez has made a clear indication that he wants to move up to junior welterweight to pursue a fourth title. The Mexican star is very interested in challenging Khan for his WBA belt. Khan, who is scheduled to fight in England on April 16 and doesn't have a set opponent, is interested in facing Marquez.
"We have most of the 140-pounders. We're going to present all of the guys. Guerrero would love to fight him. Morales would love to fight him. Khan is interested in fighting him. And I'm sure Maidana would love to fight him. We're going to get together with him and go over all of that stuff. He's supposed to come in within a week or something like that," Gomez said.
