Manny Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Marquez IV set for Dec 8th

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Manny Pacquiao appears headed for a fourth showdown with rival Juan Manuel Marquez rather than a rematch with Timothy Bradley Jr., Top Rank promoter Bob Arum said Wednesday.

Arum oversaw the final news conference at Wynn Las Vegas for Saturday's Sergio Martinez-Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. middleweight championship fight, ate lunch and then dashed off to a meeting with Pacquiao adviser Michael Koncz, who also is here this week.

The goal of the meeting, Arum said, was to lock down final terms for Pacquiao-Marquez IV.

"We're having a meeting about Manny's next fight and to get everything finalized," Arum said. "My goal is to finalize the Marquez fight, but I have to meet with (Koncz)."

Pacquiao is due to return to action on Dec. 8. The HBO pay-per-view fight will take place at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, contrary to rumors that the fight would be held in Marquez's hometown of Mexico City.

"It's at the MGM," Arum said. "The eighth is for sure. Vegas is for sure."

The three candidates to face Pacquiao were Bradley, who won a highly disputed decision against him in June, Marquez and Miguel Cotto, who was stopped by Pacquiao in the 12th round of an action-packed welterweight title fight in 2009.

Pacquiao's first choice was Cotto, who declined and instead made a deal to challenge junior middleweight titlist Austin Trout on Dec. 1 at Madison Square Garden.

With Floyd Mayweather Jr. out of the picture -- for this year at least -- that left Marquez and Bradley.

Pacquiao is 2-0-1 against Marquez in three action-packed fights that each ended in a storm of controversy over the scoring, with many believing Marquez had won all three fights -- especially their most recent encounter. That was in November at the MGM Grand, where Pacquiao eked out a majority decision to retain his welterweight title.

Bradley pulled the upset on June 9 when he was awarded a controversial split decision against Pacquiao, which resulted in worldwide outrage over the scoring because most people had Pacquiao winning easily -- except two of the three judges, Duane Ford and C.J. Ross.

Junior welterweight titlist Marquez (54-6-1, 39 KOs) and Bradley (29-0, 12 KOs) both wanted to meet Pacquiao (54-4-2, 38 KOs) again because he means career-high purses.

But there has been a divide within Top Rank and Pacquiao's team on which opponent to select after Cotto turned them down. There also was Arum's concerns over the cost of putting together each fight compared to the kind of $20 million-plus purse Pacquiao wants.

Some involved wanted to make the Marquez fight because it is, by far, the bigger pay-per-view event based on previous buy rates. The third fight last year sold 1.3 million units, according to Arum, substantially more than the approximately 950,000 sold by the Pacquiao-Bradley fight.

Pacquiao and Marquez also have a rivalry that has enthralled fans through three fights.

The 2004 featherweight championship draw saw Pacquiao knock down Marquez three times in the first round only for Marquez to storm back. In the 2008 junior lightweight championship fight, Pacquiao won on a split decision.

Arum said that if the deal is finalized before the end of the week, he hoped to launch the promotion next week with a news conference in Los Angeles.

Arum said Bradley likely would return against an opponent to be determined in November or December on HBO. Arum said he would like to bring Bradley's fight to the Theater at Madison Square Garden to "expose him to the fans and media in New York."

http://espn.go.com/boxing/story/_/id/8371273/manny-pacquiao-headed-fourth-showdown-juan-manuel-marquez

I hate Bob Arum so much.

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The deal is done.

Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez, already with a storied three-fight series against each other in the books, will fight for the fourth time, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum said Friday.

They will meet Dec. 8 (HBO PPV) at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, site of their epic first and third fights.

Pacquiao picked Marquez over welterweight titlist Timothy Bradley Jr., who claimed his belt with a controversial split-decision win against Pacquiao on June 9. Marquez, Bradley and Miguel Cotto were all candidates to face Pacquiao. Then Cotto, Pacquiao's preferred opponent, made a deal to fight junior middleweight titlist Austin Trout on Dec. 1 at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Pacquiao picked Marquez because the money was bigger, Arum told ESPN.com on Friday.

Arum said he is guaranteeing Pacquiao $23 million for the fight. Had he faced Bradley again, it would have been "considerably less," according to Arum, who declined to reveal the figure.

"Because the economics for the Marquez fight were so much greater than for a Bradley rematch, that is what Manny decided to do," Arum said. "It's so much greater because of the support Marquez has from the Hispanic community. Look at the past numbers. When Pacquiao fought Marquez (in November), it sold close to 1.3 million pay-per-view. Bradley was about 900,000. That's a big difference. Plus, the gate goes from probably $8 million to $12 million."

Freddie Roach, Pacquiao's trainer, said once Cotto turned down an offer, he preferred for Pacquiao to fight Bradley again.

"Manny knew I would prefer Bradley," Roach said. "I think the money was a huge factor. Bradley doesn't bring the people Marquez does. But I would have rather had revenge for that bad decision in June."

Arum said Pacquiao was on a plane from the Philippines to Los Angeles to kick off a media tour for the fight beginning Monday in Beverly Hills. They will move to New York to meet the media on Wednesday followed by a trip to Mexico City on Friday. In addition, Arum said they would spend Thursday at ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Conn., for a series of television appearances promoting the bout.

Roach said because of the controversial nature of the three previous fights between Pacquiao and Marquez, especially their fight in November, that Pacquiao would start out "down three rounds on the scorecards. Judges are human. They know what happened before. Maybe the judges will be thinking Marquez was robbed last time and they're human, and they will give Marquez the benefit of the doubt.

"But Manny picked Marquez, and that's who we will get ready for. It's about time we have a good knockout anyway."

The fight has been in the works for the past few days. It came to a head Tuesday when Arum met with Michael Koncz, Pacquiao's adviser, face-to-face at the Wynn Las Vegas following the final news conference promoting Arum's big card on Saturday night headlined by the Sergio Martinez-Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. middleweight championship fight.

"We had to work it out, work out the money and then (Marquez promoter) Fernando (Beltran) had to close with Marquez because he had only talked generally with Marquez about the deal," Arum said. "But we couldn't close anything until Marquez got here (Thursday)."

Arum said the fight will be contested at welterweight -- 147 pounds maximum with no catch weight. Marquez (54-6-1, 39 KOs), who holds a junior welterweight title, will move up to welterweight for the nontitle fight.

"There is no sanctioning organization title involved," Arum said. "We're going to give that money to charity."

Marquez, who has won titles in four divisions (126, 130, 135 and 140) has fought above the 140-pound junior welterweight limit twice -- a lopsided loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2009, and a world title fight against Pacquiao when they met in November.

Pacquiao (54-4-2, 38 KOs), boxing's only eight-division champion, won that fight on a controversial majority decision to go up 2-0-1 in their rivalry, which began in 2004 when they fought to a thrilling draw in a featherweight championship fight. The rematch was a 2008 junior lightweight championship fight that Pacquiao won on a split decision.

http://espn.go.com/boxing/story/_/id/8378996/fourth-manny-pacquiao-juan-manuel-marquez-fight-set-dec-8

Boring, how is your first choice not the guy who took your title, what is boxing coming to

No problem with this. Both guys are getting older(especially jmm, while Bradley is not) and these fights have all been very close and entertaining.

We all knew a 4th fight was warranted after the 3rd fight, so lets just have at it now. Bradley will be there in due time.

cascade_run wrote:

Boring, how is your first choice not the guy who took your title, what is boxing coming to

You do know Pac boxed Bradley's ears off but was robbed by the judges right ??

I'd rather see Pac in there with Berto but the three previous meetings between these two have been FOTY contenders.

beats the shit out of a Bradley rematch.