Although Juan Manuel Marquez has said he “may” be open to the idea of an exhibition bout one day, the Mexican great has firmly ruled out any chance of him boxing an exhibition bout with his fiercest and most famous ring rival – Manny Pacquiao.
“Dinamita,” now a promoter, having promoted a show last night, said there would just be no way he and Pacquiao could get in the ring and box to have fun, with the pair pulling their punches, giving the crowd a decent show and nothing more.
No, Marquez says the passion still burns in him, and in Pacquiao, to the point where, if they did fight again, even in the form of an exhibition bout, they “would go to kill again.”
As fans everywhere know, Marquez and Pacquiao fought four incredible fights, the first being a draw, Pac Man winning close, debatable decisions in fights two and three, and then Marquez scoring THAT knockout in the fourth and final fight.
Ever since then, no matter how much money there was being dangled in front of him, Marquez has always said no to a fifth fight. And that includes an exhibition bout.
“I wouldn’t be an exhibition fight, do you agree?” Marquez said on the subject of he and Pacquiao agreeing to an exhibition, as quoted by Marca Boxing. “With the courage that it brings me and after what happened to me, that fight would not be an exhibition. We would go up to kill again. I don’t think so, that chapter closed. I burned my last gunpowder in my last fight at 41 years old. I think the story with Pacquiao is over, already – we’ve done it. There is nothing to prove anymore.”
Pacquiao, who has boxed a recent exhibition and is reportedly planning some more, will perhaps be disappointed by what Marquez has had to say. Pac Man has wanted a fifth go at his most intense and bitter rival ever since that December night in Las Vegas over a decade ago.
Now, Marquez has closed the book on this particular rivalry. Seemingly for good. As a result, Marquez and Pacquiao will forever be listed as having gone 2-1-1, with Pac Man winning the series but with Marquez scoring the most emphatic victory of the series.
