Juan Manuel Marquez to Return in May By Steve Kim, MaxBoxing (Jan 5, 2010)
Believe it or not, as the New Year begins, there are other things going on besides the mediation to stop the negotiation insanity between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather.
But just barely, it seems.
"My whole focus is really on this fight, here, on the Mayweather-Pacquiao," said Golden Boy Promotions CEO, Richard Schaefer, from his offices in Los Angeles on Monday afternoon. "But we do have May 1st for Juan Manuel Marquez. The MGM Grand is on board and I just talked to my matchmakers to come up with a card. One idea I had was to maybe see if we can do a rematch between Marquez and Juan Diaz; since it was such a terrific fight."
Last February, Marquez stopped Diaz in nine rounds in Houston, Texas, to punctuate what was already a stirring battle. Another option could be WBO interim lightweight titlist, Michael Katsidis. Marquez, who was last seen losing a welterweight bout to Mayweather back in September, still holds the WBO 135-pound strap. Of that possibility, Schaefer said, "Absolutely, yes."
This pay-per-view show will focus in on Golden Boy’s vast stable of Latin talent; like Sergio Mora, who just recently signed on with the company.
"I just talked to my matchmakers, they got back today and so I said come up with a good card," said Schaefer.
X FACTOR
When it comes to “The Executioner,” Schaefer told Maxboxing, "I continue to have conversations with Bernard Hopkins opponents. I’ve been having continuing conversations with the (Lucian) Bute people and I had some further conversations with Roy Jones and with Danny Green, as well."
Is there a front-runner among that trio?
"No," said Schaefer, "I think they’re all pretty close, I have to say."
Either way, look for his return to take place sometime in April.
MEDIATING MADNESS
As most of you know by now, on Tuesday afternoon, mediation will take place between the camps of both Pacquiao and Mayweather; which will be presided over by the respected Daniel Weinstein; a retired judge, who helped bring about the truce between Top Rank and Golden Boy back in 2007.
Yeah, it’s gotten that ridiculous. This fight -which is amazingly enough tougher to consummate than sneaking into the White House, nowadays- has resorted to this.
Most observers believe that eventually a deal will be struck. But what if it isn’t? Here are a few suggestions: If President Obama isn’t too busy and doesn’t have any other pressing issues, I suggest he sit everyone down for another “Beer Summit.” If he’s busy, I suggest calling in Bill Clinton. Hey, if he can get those two girls out of North Korea and play nice with Kim Jong-Il, then this guy can make miracles happen. Or they can go old-school and call in Henry Kissinger.
But regardless, either fish or cut bait, this whole process became tiresome long ago.
NEW YEARS FLURRIES
Been told that now the probable date for Pacquiao-Mayweather is March 20th…Trainer Freddie Roach was hoping to see “The Pac-Man” step through the doors of the Wild Card on Monday, but he was a no-show. He was later informed that Manny would most likely arrive in Los Angeles on “the fifth or sixth” of January...It looks like Sergio Martinez now has some options. While a fight with Kelly Pavlik was being negotiated, Al Haymon, who is trying to do his best to mess with Bob Arum, made a better offer for them to rematch with Paul Williams instead. It’ll be interesting to see where this all ends up...A super middleweight bout between Allan Green and Sakio Bika is being finalized for Showtime on February 5th...Look for a pair of DiBella-promoted prospects, Antwone Smith and Marcus Johnson to co-headline a ShoBox telecast in March...Anyone think that Jim Zorn actually got lucky in getting canned by the Redskins?...I’m happy for Chris Johnson that he broke 2,000 yards but I’m even happier that he didn’t break Eric Dickerson’s mark of 2,105 yards. I swear, if he would’ve gotten close, I may have gone all Tonya Harding on him. That record should forever be 29’s...My Super Bowl pick? Dallas vs. San Diego. Yes, a match-up of Wade Phillips and Norv Turner. Who says nice guys finish last?...Any questions or comments can be directed to: k9kim@yahoo.com...Twitter.com/stevemaxboxing...
