Yesterday, Bob Arum told ESPN.com that he came to an agreement with Juan Manuel Marquez (52-5-1, 38 KOs) to fight Manny Pacquiao (53-3-2, 38 KOs) for a third time. Arum says that the fight will be at a welterweight catch weight of 144 pounds.
Juan Manuel Marquez has been pushing for a third fight against Pacman, currently ranked #1 Fight Knights P4P, since his razor thin decision loss in 2008.
The main questions surrounding Marquez will be: What does JMM have left in the tank (He is 37)? And how will the weight gain effect him? It would be hard to see Juan Manuel Marquez hurting Pacquiao in any fashion considering he was already considered light puncher at his current lower weight. Will his boxing skills still have the answer for Pacquiao?
Some other interesting storylines that are arising from this is the never ending Golden Boy versus Top Rank rift. Bob Arum is saying that he will be cross promoting the fight with Marquez’s own promotional company. Apparently, Golden Boy had an opportunity to match the Top Rank offer (essentially finding another opponent that paid the same amount): $5 million in guaranteed money, a cut of pay-per-view profits and a guaranteed $10 million plus a cut of pay-per-view if he Marquez wins. Hard to see that type of money coming from fighting anyone not named Floyd Mayweather (already fought in 2009) or Manny Pacquiao.
Another storyline is one that in an even broader spectrum, the sport of boxing. Alas, many of the people who aren't in the sport day in and day out simply wait for the next Pacquiao fight to go to nowadays. After the last Pacquiao fight, many were critical of the performance of the main event, calling boxing boring and a letdown. Will this fight be of the same pace? Doesn't the Floyd Mayweather V Marquez fight seem like something that could happen again?
Other fights also recently announced:
Less heralded fights were also announced recently for us boxing junkies.
Paul Williams (39-2, 27 KOs) will return to the ring July 9 on HBO against Nobuhiro Ishida (23-6-2, 8 KOs). The Punisher has been inactive since his devastating KO loss against Fight Knight P4p #3 Sergio Martinez. Ishida is of course coming off his amazing upset of James Kirkland last April. It’s nice for Ishida to get a payday after his, frankly speaking, fluke win over Kirkland. This fight shouldn’t last long and Williams hasn’t fought this low skill competition since Santos Pakau.
Lucian Bute (28-0, 23 KOs) signed to fight in front of his home crowd in Montreal for the first time since 2003. He will be defending his IBF super middleweight belt against unbeated Jean-Paul Mendy (29-0-1, 16 KOs). Bute has been on an tear with 5 KO victories since he went the distance with Librado Andrade in that controversial fight late 2008. This fight will continue him on his collision course with Super Six favorite Andre Ward.
Kermit Cintron (32-3-1, 28 KOs) is returning against Carlos Molina (18-4-2, 6 Kos). Should be an good one. Cintron is returning from his strange loss to Paul Williams after falling out of the ring. Many questioned his heart and there were whispers of the four letter q word… Quit. Molina is coming off an impressive TKO victory over Allen Conyers. This will likely be the co feature on the Brandon Rios V Urbano Antillon card July 9th at the Home Depot Center.
Cornelius “K9” Bundrage (30-4, 18 KOs) of Contender fame is reached an agreement to defend his IBF Light Middleweight Title (which he won last fight against Cory Spinks) against Sechew Powell June 25th. This is a rematch of a very entertaining little fight. See the video here.
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