Juan Manuel Marquez and Chris Algieri are on the “short list” of potential opponents for Manny Pacquiao’s next scheduled fight, which is slated for November 22 in Macau.
Carl Moretti, Top Rank Promotions vice president of boxing operations, confirmed that the two fighters are on the list but refused to reveal who else is on the list.
The news will likely upset boxing fans, many of whom don’t want to see Pacquiao fight either Marquez or Algieri.
Algieri beat Ruslan Provodnikov in a split-decision, prompting many--including trainer Freddie Roach--to call for a rematch before a Pacquiao-Algieri fight is considered.
“I admire the kid. He got up from a couple of knockdowns. He’s got a lot of balls. He fought with a closed eye. A lot of guys would have quit. He’s a tough kid,” Roach said during the post-fight press conference at Barclays Center, reported Ring TV.
“I'd rather like to see him fight a rematch first, and if he won it, and he won the fight clearly, then I think that he might deserve a fight like that. Yeah. For Pacquiao, there’s not a lot of opponents out there right now.”
Moretti has a different take on what happened.
“You don’t hear a lot of ‘robbery, controversy’ talk going on. To me, that indicates a lot of people thought he did win,” he told Newsday.
“The key with Algieri is how he got up from the two knockdowns and overcame the shut eye,” Moretti added. “It added to the drama. His performance and his story put him in the sweepstakes of getting a Pacquiao fight in November. He'll be on the list.”
Moretti says he and promoter Bob Arum will present the list to Pacquiao in early July. Moretti termed Marquez as a long shot.
A fifth fight between Pacquiao and Marquez isn’t among the fight that many boxing fans want to see.
“Is there any point in the two veterans putting it on the line again? Marquez would capture a world title in a fifth weight class while Pacquiao avenges a brutal blemish in his record. But apart from the stakes on paper, no one is really calling for this fight (with the exception of Bob Arum). There are plenty of other fighters out there that seem much more of an exciting match up,” reported Boxing News 24.
“Arum hinted to Pacquiao fighting Chris Algieri but in reality, that’s not a matchup that anybody wants to see (nor has any demand for). A challenging fight for Pacquiao would be fighting the likes of Shawn Porter or Keith Thurman who may seem like legitimate threats to anyone in the entire welterweight division. Young menaces that have the hunger to become a hazard to either of Juan Manuel Marquez or Manny Pacquiao. Even more, Danny Garcia versus Marquez seems like an interesting and competitive matchup, while Marcos Maidana or Amir Khan versus Manny Pacquiao are also equally compelling match ups. With these vast array of possible opponents, one would think of why Bob Arum is forcing a fifth fight down our throats while Oscar De-La Hoya is trying to rejuvenate boxing’s buzz by amending relationships between promoters.”
Roach previously told the Los Angeles Times that Arum doesn’t think that Marquez will agree to a fifth match.
If the Algieri-Provodnikov rematch were set up, and Ruslan won, then a Provodnikov-Pacquiao fight doesn’t seem out of the question.
