For several days we’ve heard that Top Rank put a $5 million offer on the table for Juan Manuel Marquez to fight Manny Pacquiao for a third time. Knowing that Marquez has talked for some time about how badly he wants the bout it seemed a foregone conclusion that the trilogy would go down in September. But yesterday Bob Arum told the press that Marquez was not happy with the offer and that they would be submitting him a revised offer on Monday.

So who would be next for Pacquiao if it isn’t Marquez? Arum says that the next choices would be Timothy Bradley or Zab Judah, both junior welterweights.

I don’t know that they could possibly have mentioned two more different options.

Though Judah (41-6, 28 KO) has ran off five straight wins he is still only in the bottom half of the top ten at 140 pounds. What he does provide is a guy with a recognizable name whose history shows that he would be more than willing to be outspoken and play the “bad guy” in the build up to a big fight.

Bradley (27-0, 11 KO) is undefeated in his career and the #1 ranked fighter at 140. But he also is a guy who is a virtual unknown to the public at large. His fight with Devon Alexander, a legitimate and relevant battle drew a crowd to Pontiac, Michigan that could only be described as embarrassing. To be fair, putting on a fight in the Silverdome was a stupid move to begin with but he still isn’t exactly a huge draw anywhere else.

Pacquiao would be the one doing the heavy lifting as far as public attention no matter who he fights, but having a solid supporting player is the difference between 700,000 PPV buys and 1.2 million. And after the Mosley fight it’s possible that there will be a segment of the audience that isn’t going to be in a rush to drop another $50 unless there is some greater motivation, like Judah’s trash talk or Manny’s history with Marquez.

More than anything else, Pacquiao needs a fight that is going to deliver on the hype. While no fault of his own, the last three opponents have just not been able to force Manny into a compelling fight. Manny’s curse is the curse of the dominant, and he needs the right opponent to make the fight he needs.

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Kelly Pavlik EVOLUTION BOXING

By Evolution | Published: May 8, 2011

Kelly Pavlik thought he needed an impressive outing Saturday in his first fight in 13 months.

To his longtime trainer, Jack Loew, the impressive part was the former world middleweight champion simply returning to the ring after his long layoff and battle with alcoholism.

Pavlik (37-2) wasn’t sharp, failing to put away Alfonso Lopez (21-1), in scoring a majority decision in their 10-round super middleweight bout on the Manny Pacquiao-Shane Mosley undercard at the MGM Grand Garden.

Pavlik won 99-91 on judge Dick Houck’s scorecard and 98-92 on C.J. Ross’ card. Adalaide Byrd scored the fight 95-95.

“The ring rust was there, but I thought I did pretty good,” Pavlik said. “I don’t know what that judge (Byrd) was watching. I clearly won the fight.”

Pavlik, 29, has aspirations of fighting the likes of Lucien Bute, Andre Ward and Carl Froch, but he hardly looked ready for the cream of the 168-pound crop.

The win was satisfying, nonetheless.

Pavlik, who hadn’t fought since losing his WBC and WBO middleweight titles to Sergio Martinez in April 2010, spent two months at the Betty Ford Center this past winter.

“There were two wins tonight,” Loew said. “The first was walking up the steps and climbing into the ring; the second was winning the fight.”

Lopez threw more punches and landed more. But Pavlik was more effective and landed the better shots.

In the sixth round, for example, Pavlik threw a right hook to the body that hurt Lopez. He landed another right to the body later in the round.

While not especially sharp, Pavlik finished strong, dominating Lopez in the 10th round and rocking him with lefts and rights to the head.

Also on the undercard, Jorge Arce rallied for a 12th-round technical knockout of Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. (20-1-1) to take the WBC super bantamweight title.

Arce (57-6-2) nearly had Vazquez out on his feet in the 11th round. He pummeled Vazquez from the start in the 12th, and referee Joe Cortez stopped the fight 55 seconds into the final round when Vazquez’s corner jumped onto the ring apron.

Vazquez floored Arce just before the end of the fourth with a left hook to the chin, but Arce never stopped fighting.

He led 107-102 on judge Robert Hoyle’s card at the time of the stoppage, while Burt Clements and Garry Merritt had scored it 104-104.

BY STEVE CARP
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

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