Pacquiao off to US Friday to sign Pacquiao-Marquez IV

MANILA, Philippines – It looks like it’s going to be a Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez fight yet again.

Pacquiao is scheduled to leave for the US Friday, September 14, to sign a fourth fight with Juan Manuel Marquez in December according to longtime lawyer Franklin Gacal Jr.

“It is Marquez for his December 8 fight,” Gacal said in a phone interview.

Gacal will accompany Pacquiao when the latter leaves at the end of the week.

Details of the fight are to be announced later with Pacquiao to immediately start the fight’s promotional tour while in the US.

It is believed that among the contentious issues preventing Pacquiao from agreeing to another fight deal with Marquez is his guaranteed purse. 

Gacal however declined to give any comment on how much Pacquiao will get in this fight.

“It is still subject to discussion,” Gacal said.

On Thursday, September 13, ESPN’s Dan Rafael reported that Top Rank promoter Bob Arum met with Michael Koncz, Pacquiao’s adviser, to “lock down final terms for Pacquiao-Marquez IV.”

Arum was quoted as saying that it will definitely be held on December 8, in the MGM Grand at Las Vegas — dispelling rumors that the two would be fighting in Marquez’s hometown of Mexico.

The report confirms a previous report by Rappler that said Pacquiao was likely to fight Marquez, instead of the two earlier proposed opponents — Timothy Bradley Jr. and Miguel Cotto. Pacquiao defeated Cotto in 2009, while Pacquiao lost to a controversial split decision to Bradley in June.

It also kills the hopes of die-hard boxing who have been waiting for what would have been a historic showdown between Pacquiao and undefeated American boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. Dreams of a fight between arguably the two best fighters today started as early as December 2008, but have not come into fruition because of failed negotiations on purse and drug testing between both camps.

Arch rivals

Gacal said Pacaquiao will still return to the Philippines after signing the fight deal with Marquez before going into serious training.

Coach Freddie Roach has already expressed his desire to have Pacquiao in the US in the duration of his training. The 53-year old American top boxing coach said Marquez has always given Pacquiao a hard fight and cannot have the usual distractions he has when he trains in the Philippines, if he want to defeat Marquez.

Pacquiao has met his arch rival Marquez three times so far all of which have been clouded by controversy. Neither has won by technical knockout or by unanimous decision.

When the longtime rivals first met in 2004, Pacquiao won via split draw. Despite knocking down Marquez three times in the first round, Marquez was able to pull off a draw after winning latter rounds. One judge scored it 115-110 for Pacquiao, another had it 115-110 for Marquez, and the third had it 113-113.

Controversy persists as Pacquiao should have technically won the fight by majority decision, since the last judge scored the first round 10-7, when it should have been 10-6. Meanwhile, Marquez still believes his resilience and comeback should have given him the win.

In their 2008 rematch, Pacquiao was triumphant again in the judges’ eyes. He defeated Marquez — barely — by split decision. Pacquiao knocked Marquez down in the third round with a blistering left hook, but again, Marquez fought his way back, up until the final second of the raucous brawl. One judge gave that fight to Pacquiao 115-112, another to Marquez 115-112, while the last gave it to Pacquiao 114-113.

Pacquiao won in the scorecards by just one point, but CompuBox indicated that Marquez landed more punches. Because of this, fans and analysts still disagree on the deserving winner up to this day.

Controversy continued to hound the two up to their last clash in November, when fans were expecting a knockout from Pacquiao to finally settle the score. But what they got was far from it.

Pacquiao narrowly edged Marquez by majority decision, although spectators felt the fight could have gone either way. CompuBox statistics show Pacquiao threw and landed more power punches than Marquez, but in the rounds Marquez defeated Pacquiao, his domination was more definite and convincing.

With Pacquiao’s last few fights showing lackluster performances, talk of the boxing superstar nearing his end are plenty, leaving one thing for certain: If Pacquiao wants to show the world he still has what it takes, this is the perfect fight to prove it.

Otherwise a loss may mean the end of his days as a top fighter. – Rappler.com with reports from Edwin Espejo