By James Slater: Reigning WBA/IBF 140-pound king Amir Khan provided Prime Time commentary for last night’s controversially scored third meeting between Manny Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez. Khan, a good friend and also a stable-mate of Pac-Man’s, had Marquez winning the fight and the British star also spoke of his desire to fight Marquez.
Khan, who must get past Lamont Peterson on December 10th before he can think about fighting anyone else, said on air that he would take the Marquez fight after the Dec. 10th defence. Khan has spoken of his plan to move up to welterweight next year, “as there are no fights left for me at 140.” Maybe Marquez will like the idea of facing Khan at a catch-weight, seeing how strong and effective the Mexican was up at 142-pounds.
The fight, if it happened, would prove attractive to the fans; especially in light of how formidable Marquez has proved he still is. Khan has talked about fighting Marquez before, and last night he really sounded like a man who craves the fight. But Marquez, so bitter and disgusted as he is right now due to his getting “robbed” last night, has suggested he may quit the sport and fight no more.
“What I need to do is sit down with my family and my camp and make a decision about continuing in this sport or just simply retire from the sport,” Marquez said. “The thing that makes me think of retirement is because I have prepared myself so hard for 18 years. This was the biggest fight of my career. It was a robbery. They robbed me. ”
Marquez added how he is “thinking about” getting T-shirts made up with the slogan “We were robbed three times!” emblazoned on them. Marquez sincerely feels he won fights one and two with Pac-Man, and he is even more adamant that he won last night’s third encounter – as is his trainer Nacho Beristain:
“I feel that this is a joke for the people, for Manny and for Juan Manuel Marquez to have a decision like this,” Nacho said.
It will be a shame if Marquez does decide to retire. As he proved last night, he still has plenty to offer, even at age 38 and whilst fighting above his natural weight. A fight with Khan would possibly interest Marquez as well as the fans. However, if Marquez does decide against quitting, there is sure to be one man and one man only at the forefront of his mind!