According to several sources, despite the fact that 8-division world champion Manny Pacquiao lost a controversial split decision this past Saturday to undefeated newly-crowned WBO welterweight champion Timothy Bradley, an immediate rematch may not be taking place on the previously promoted November 10th date. Instead, it appears that promoter Bob Arum may prefer for Pacquiao's long-time ring rival Juan Manuel Marquez to get the assignment ahead of Bradley.
Pacquiao and Marquez faced each for the third time last November in a fight that ended in it's own controversy when Pacquiao was awarded the majority decision despite the fact that several ringside observers felt Marquez deserved the victory in the hotly contested match. Although promoter Bob Arum originally expressed a strong desire to stage a fourth bout immediately following that fight, those plans quickly changed when Pacquiao seemed somewhat disinterested in the matchup and Marquez began making his own exorbitant demands.
Enter Bradley, who was awarded the June 9th date instead of Marquez. Heading into last Saturday's fight, it was a foregone conclusion that Pacquiao would walk away victorious, setting up a potential fourth fight with Marquez to take place in November. Bradley, however, had his own opinion, declaring that he would be the one giving Pacquiao a chance for a rematch, even going so far as to declare the date, November 10th. Now that June 9th has come and gone, it looks like Bradley was right, or so it would seem. Unfortunately for Bradley, however, his "victory" came at a cost, potentially suffering a fractured foot that could sideline him for a period of a time, although it's doubtful that the injury would prevent him from returning by November.
Regardless, according to our sources, the idea that Bradley will indeed be fighting Pacquiao on November 10th is not set it stone. While Pacquiao has expressed a strong desire to immediately right the wrong that he feels occurred to him this past Saturday, I'm told that there are others who have a much stronger desire to make a fight that will do much bigger numbers on pay-per-view. Keep in mind that as an event, Pacquiao vs. Marquez III was a major success, setting a record in the history of Mexican TV and becoming the country's most viewed boxing event ever with an average live audience of 37.2 million viewers (about 1/3 of Mexico's total population). It's a fact that was not lost on Marquez, which is likely one of the reasons why, at one point, he was demanding more than the $10 million he was orginally guaranteed.
With Pacquiao already commanding the lion's share of the purse, it made it difficult for Arum to finalize a deal with Marquez. According to our source, however, Manny's loss to Bradley now makes it easier to find "extra money" from the Pacquiao side to make the fight a reality. "It's the fight Bob always wanted, but Manny refused to give it to him. The fight with Bradley was barely promoted and won't do good numbers. Bob knows that. Now, he's just going to tell Manny that they have to fight Juan if they want to make money, so of course Manny is going to prefer the bigger money fight. That's the real conspiracy that everyone should be focusing on. This fight was a setup for the fourth fight with Juan," remarked one source.
"From what I hear, the Marquez side has already agreed to the fight on November 10th. The only question is whether they will get in Texas like they want. You saw what happened at the [post-fight] press conference. Bob was saying Manny's next fight might be someplace else, but Manny made it clear that he wants to fight in Vegas. Bob even tried to stop him from saying anything further, but Manny wasn't having it," explained another source. "That's why Bob is making that request to the [Nevada] Attorney General. He knows damn well they won't do anything about the Bradley fight. He has to make Nevada look bad to Manny so he can convince him to fight in Texas instead. I'm telling you, Bob wants Marquez next for Manny."
At the end of the day, the final decision, according to Arum, rests with Pacquiao, but given the comments from our source, it seems like he's being steered in the direction of Marquez on November 10th as opposed to Bradley.
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