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Source : AKTV
“It’s Marquez,” Pacquiao’s adviser Mike Koncz said yesterday from Las Vegas after meeting and finalizing the deal with Top Rank chief Bob Arum.
The official announcement will be made on Tuesday at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles with Arum and Pacquiao and Marquez in attendance. The succeeding stops of the tour will be Mexico City and New York City.
Pacquiao was actually given three choices–Miguel Cotto, Tim Bradley and Marquez–and the future Hall of Famer chose the Mexican not because he packs a lot of wallop in pay-per-view sales but he believes that there should be a closure to their celebrated rivalry that began in 2004.
Cotto signed up to face Austin Tout on Dec. 1 in New York, leaving him with Bradley and Marquez.
But probably because Pacquiao and the rest of the world thought that Bradley was just plain lucky to be declared winner by split decision last June 9, Pacquiao picked Marquez owing to the daunting challenge.
Pacquiao has always enjoyed being challenged and pushed to the limit.
BRADLEY CALLS PACQUIAO "CHICKEN"
Source : ABS CBN SPORTS
MANILA, Philippines – Unbeaten American boxer Timothy Bradley Jr. is furious that Filipino icon Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao chose a fourth bout against rival Juan Manuel Marquez of Mexico rather than a rematch with him.
Bradley shocked the boxing world last June when he defeated Pacquiao via a highly controversial split decision to take the World Boxing Organization welterweight belt, even though majority of boxing media and fans believe Pacquiao routed him.
Pacquiao holds a rematch clause against Bradley, but according to various reports, the Filipino boxer will not exercise it.
Instead, Pacquiao will face Marquez for a fourth time on December 8 at the MGM Grand, leaving Bradley furious.
“I can’t believe these guys,” Bradley said in an interview with The Desert Sun. “He (Pacquiao) didn’t want any part of me. Marquez is an easier fight.”
“He knows that a fight with me and two good legs is going to be hell,” he added.
Bradley suffered foot injuries in his June bout with Pacquiao, giving him limited mobility throughout the bout even though he managed to last the distance. The American boxer has claimed ever since that if he had not been injured, he would have won more decisively.
“I can’t believe it. Any champion who lost his belt, you would want to redeem yourself,” Bradley said.
The American fighter then called Pacquiao a “chicken” for choosing another Marquez fight.
“What the public needs to know is Pacquiao, their No. 1 dude, doesn’t care about his loss. You need to redeem yourself because Tim Bradley beat you. You need to come back and redeem that loss,” Bradley said.
“In my eyes, chicken (expletive). Chicken, chicken, chicken,” he added. “I’m too much for these boys, man.”
Bradley’s trainer, Joel Diaz, agrees with his fighter.
“Manny knows Tim is a complicated fighter. Tim already had his number,” Diaz said in The Dersert Sun. “If you go for the easier fight, you go with Marquez.”
Pacquiao originally wanted to fight Puerto Rican star Miguel Cotto, though that fight fell through when the two camps could not agree on a weight.
That left Marquez and Bradley as the options, and Marquez was shown to be the more lucrative fight: Pacquiao’s trilogy bout against the Mexican sold 1.3 million pay-per-view buys, while his fight against Bradley sold a disappointing 950,000 buys.
Top Rank chief executive Bob Arum, who promotes both Bradley and Pacquiao, hinted that the unbeaten American may fight again in November, though nothing has been finalized.
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