One day after Antonio Margarito was denied a boxing license in the state of California, Golden Boy Promotions President Oscar De La Hoya held a conference call for the sole purpose of pleading his case to the media that lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez should be next in line to face Filipino superstar Manny Pacquiao. "Well, the reason that I wanted to talk is because obviously, I was keeping up to date with this whole Margarito issue. And, obviously, now that California didn't grant him a license, I want to make a case for Marquez. Marquez has a license, he's obviously ready and willing to fight Manny Pacquiao," De La Hoya immediately stated, wasting no time in getting straight to the point. After fulfilling his obligation to first appear before the California State Athletic Commission for licensure, Margarito quickly applied for a license in Texas, where his proposed November 13 bout with Manny Pacquiao is tentatively scheduled to take place. Golden Boy Promotions is now looking to strike while the iron is hot, imploring that Pacquiao face Marquez instead before Margarito inevitably does receives his license.
"Here is Marquez with a license, willing to fight him, and I think that the public really deserves it. I want to make a strong case for Marquez. Not only for myself, because I want to watch that fight, but for all of the fans around the world who want to watch that trilogy. I think that it's only fair. The right thing is making a third fight with Marquez. Marquez is willing to fight him," De La Hoya would continue, almost on the verge of begging. "We keep on making our case as to why this fight should be happening. You know, Manny Pacquiao wants to fight. The only one who does not want to fight is Bob Arum, and that is not fair. That is not fair to the public, and that is not fair to Manny Pacquiao. That is not fair to Marquez."
It's unclear as to exactly what De La Hoya expects the members of the media to do to help his plight, but there's a lot of other fights that he actually can do something about if he's truly that concerned for all of the fans around the world. While a third bout between Pacquiao and Marquez would be interesting, I can name several fights involving Golden Boy fighters that are just as intriguing and a lot easier to make. A rematch between Victor Ortiz and Marcos Maidana is the first one that comes to mind. With both men being Golden Boy fighters, there's absolutely no reason whatsoever why the fight has yet to take place, especially considering that Ortiz has already had three fights since their first encounter and Maidana has already had two. Instead, next up for Ortiz is faded former champion Vivian Harris, who's 1-2 with 1 no contest in his last 4 bouts, while Maidana is set to face aging former champion DeMarcus Corley, who's 6-9 in his last 15 fights, later this month. Another interesting matchup would be between the same Marcos Maidana, who holds the interim WBA jr. welterweight title, and current reigning WBA jr. welterweight champion Amir Khan. Once again, both men are promoted by Golden Boy, both men are the top rated fighters in the WBA, and yet, for some reason, neither will be fighting each other any time soon.
Although those were just two of the fights that Golden Boy Promotions could easily make without having to plead to the media, there are many others, including:
- Shane Mosley vs. Andre Berto
(instead, we get Shane Mosley vs. Sergio Mora) - David Haye vs. Wladimir Klitschko
(instead, we'll likely get David Haye vs. Audley Harrison) - Juan Manuel Marquez vs. Michael Katsidis
(instead, we got the unnecessary Juan Manuel Marquez vs. Juan Diaz rematch) - Amir Khan vs. Timothy Bradley
- Amir Khan vs. Devon Alexander