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By Eddie G. Alinea, Contributor
WHATEVER Manny wants, Manny gets.
This was how the vice president
of Golden Boy Promotion (GBP) answered the riddle as to who will
Filipino ring icon Manny Pacquiao, newly-crowned World Boxing
Council (WBC) super featherweight champion, will fight next.
“It’s really up to Manny
whoever he wants his next opponent will be,” Eric Gomez, vice
president of GBP, which co-promotes Pacquiao’s fights with the Bob
Arum-owned Top Rank, said in an interview on the radio program
Sports Chat the other day.
“Not even Bob [Arum] can
decide. It’s only Manny. And if Manny wants [David] Diaz (the WBC
lightweight titleholder) as his next opponent, so be it,” Gomez
said.
“Marquez? Well, Pacquiao might
want to fight him again just to determine who really is the better
fighter between them. But I think that will come later, maybe after
he has fought Diaz,” he averred in reference to former 130-pound
champion Juan Manuel Marquez whom Pacquiao dethroned on March 15 in
Las Vegas.
Gomez admitted though that a
return match with Marquez would be more financially rewarding to
Pacquiao than facing Diaz for reason that it will complete a trilogy
after a split draw marred their first fight.
That March 15 Marquez-Pacquiao
12-rounder with the Mexican’s crown at stake ended in a split
decision victory for the Filipino sensation, putting more questions
than answers as to who will join the short list as the best fighter
in the world pound-for-pound.
Gomez said Marquez, who fights
under the GBP, is indeed dying to meet Pacquiao again, adding that
like in their second meeting, the former Mexican titleholder is
willing to sacrifice everything, including his share of what the
amount of the purse would be.
“Marquez is willing to accept
how much Manny would want him to receive,” he said. “Remember
that in order for Manny to fight him for the second time, Marquez
agreed to get only about one-third of what Manny got,” Gomez
recalled.
“He (Marquez) can do it again
just so a third fight can push through even for a meager prize
money. This is because of pride, national pride, Mexican pride.
Marquez just cannot accept Manny as a ‘Mexican assassin’ as the
boxing world describes him to be after convincing victories over
[Marco Antonio] Barrera and [Erik] Morales”.
Gomez said that Marquez feels
that to be called such, Manny has to prove it by beating him
convincingly. That their last fight, which went to Manny, was not as
convincing for him to be tagged as that.
“But as I said, Manny wants
Diaz and it will be done as far as both Top Rank and GBP are
concerned. Marquez’s day will come later,” he added.
Even the reported plan to fight
GBP president Oscar De La Hoya can come sooner if Pacquiao so
desires, Gomez said, even as he expressed the opinion that the
Filipino idol would not find it hard moving to the super
welterweight.
“Manny fought Marquez at 146 or
147 pounds after eating, making it to the 130-pound during the
official weigh in. Meaning, he can easily make the 147-pound limit
required to fight De La Hoya,” he reasoned out.
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