The most anticipated fifth installment of a boxing saga in history no doubt involves Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez.
World Boxing News has delved deeper into the claim that Marquez was offered $150 million to fight Pacquiao for a fifth time.
The Mexican superstar revealed that Pacquiao’s eventual bid for another chance was $50 million more than first mentioned.
As WBN covered at the time, Marquez stated he was initially given the incentive of fighting the ‘Pacman’ again for $100 million.
Per a Las Vegas interview with ‘JMM.’ It recorded the four-weight ruler adding another $50 million on top.
Manny Pacquiao V offer
Firstly, he said: “Maybe it would be that Manny Pacquiao fights with Errol Spence or Terence Crawford,” Marquez told FightHub TV. “It would be a great fight.
“Pacquiao is a legend. Pacquiao is a great fighter. It would be a good fight with Pacquiao and Terence Crawford.”
On the subject of there ever being the potential for a fifth fight after Marquez spectacularly blitzed Pacquiao at the MGM Grand in 2012, the veteran added: “Never.
“When the Pacquiao people told me about the fifth fight for $150 million, I said ‘no more.’ I retired and said no more. No return.
“Maybe I want to play basketball. Maybe I want to play football? – It’s a different sport. I have respect for the sport.”
This debunked Marquez’s nearly six-year initial disclosure that the temptation was $100 million. WBN can now reveal that this was not the case.
Marquez was never given another $50 million extra. The now broadcaster merely got the numbers wrong – years after the initial statement.
Therefore, Pacquiao was only ever placing a check for $100 million in possession of Marquez for the fifth installment, not the mistaken $150 million Marquez then outlined.
Juan Manuel Marquez offer in pesos?
And as Bob Arum told WBN in an exclusive interview, even the 100 million could have been in pesos due to being in Spanish.
“Listen, we offered him six million. Then I know we went up to eight or nine [million], something like that,” Arum exclusively told World Boxing News.
“I believe Marquez might have been talking about pesos. It’s my belief because that’s how he talks. At that time, pesos is about fourteen or fifteen against the dollar, not twenty.
“That gets you to around 150 million pesos. That’s what our interaction with Marquez was.”
Whatever the case, fans were left bereft of a fifth bout despite clearly wanting more. At the time of the clash, WBN was barely two years old as a website.
But that night, something special happened regarding interest spiking throughout the boxing world. WBN had never seen interest in a story from a live scorecard like that.
It’s rarely been seen since, and that was eight years ago. Marquez may have missed a trick in not accepting Pacquiao’s advances.
Despite the fourth contest not reaching the height of the third, in the Pay-Per-View sense, the reverberations carried on long after that fateful final punch by Marquez.
A massive amount of money was to be made, and Pacquiao knew it. Projections of two million PPV purchases were by no means overestimations.
The interest and money were evident, even if it wasn’t the incredible $150 million Marquez had presented years later.
