By Rob Smith: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is reportedly interested in putting together separate tune-up bouts for his fighter Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez in a pay per view doubleheader on April 20th, according to the Manila Bulletin. Pacquiao’s anxious to get back in the ring and his 90-day medical suspension will have expired by that point. The tune-up bouts would get Pacquiao and Marquez ready for a huge mega fight later on in the year in September if the two fighters agree to it.
Marquez still needs to say ‘yes’ to the idea of the April 20th doubleheader. Arum spoke with Marquez’s promoter Fernando Beltran of Zanfer Promotions and he’s going to be speaking with Marquez to see if he’s on board with this idea.
Arum likes the idea of the Pacquiao and Marquez doubleheader because it’ll get boxing fans interested in a fight between the two stars in September in what would be a fifth fight between them. It’s likely that their September fight will take place on the Mexican Independence day on September 14th or around the same time.
By Rob Smith: 39-year-old Juan Manuel Marquez still doesn’t know if he’ll return to the ring in 2013, as he’s considering whether to continue to fight or not, according to notifight.com. He’s still talking with his family about whether he should come back and perhaps fight one or two more times before hanging up the gloves permanently.
By Rob Smith: In an interview, Bob Arum confirmed what pretty much everyone already knew that he’s going to look to put his fighter Manny Pacquiao back in the ring with Juan Manuel Marquez in 2013 if he can put the fight together.
By James Slater – All in all, though 2012 saw a startling and quite unacceptable number of top names from our beloved sport failing drugs tests, the past 12-months were pretty good for boxing (sure, we saw our fair share of debatable, even plain bad decisions). We were treated to a number of truly great fights involving marquee names, we witnessed a number of unforgettable KO’s and we saw some quality match-making.
By Rob Smith: Juan Manuel Marquez riding high right now after knocking Manny Pacquiao out cold in the 6th round of their fight this month. Marquez avenged his two earlier controversial decision losses to the Filipino and did it in dramatic fashion by knocking Pacquiao completely out cold.
By Bill Phanco: Floyd Mayweather Sr. is advising that Manny Pacquiao stay far, far away from a rematch with Juan Manuel Marquez next year. Mayweather Sr. is concerned that Pacquiao’s ability to take head shots may have been diminished with his 6th round knockout loss to Marquez recently, and thinks Pacquiao get knocked out once again if he makes the mistake of fighting Marquez for a 5th time.
By Rob Smith: Manny Pacquiao’s strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza wants to get Pacquiao back on their strength training regimen so that he can increase Pacquiao’s strength and get him winning a again. Ariza thinks that Pacquiao has made a mistake by not following his old strength training with Ariza.