"Katsidis is a great fighter, but we know that Pacquiao has been avoiding us. We put a lot of work into it [his win over Katsidis] and the third one is what the public wants to see," stated Juan Manuel Marquez immediately after his win over Katsidis when asked if he thought his performance, a 9th round stoppage, made a convincing enough case to secure a third bout with pound-for-pound champion Manny Pacquiao. Although Pacquiao's promoter, Bob Arum, has already been in talks with Shane Mosley and WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto, his trainer, Freddie Roach, actually prefers another bout with Marquez.
"Because they have history between them. You know, they've fought twice, and they were close fights. They were very good fights for boxing and very competitive. Manny beat him and fought him to a draw, and Marquez knows Manny and knows what gives Manny trouble," Roach would comment on the potential bout in the days leading up to Marquez's successful title defense. Unfortunately for Marquez, however, that third bout would have to take place at welterweight, 17 pounds north of their last fight, which took place in the 130-pound division nearly three years ago. "We would have to fight at 147, or else, those fights won't happen. I'm not going to let Manny fight below welterweight," Roach added.
Marquez, however, seems more than willing to accept the challenge, telling HBO Larry Merchant that a third bout with Pacquiao has always been the fight he's been hoping for ever since his controvesial split dicision loss to him on March, 2008. "I always come in looking for that [a third bout with Pacquiao]. We always have difficult rivals, like Katsidis, but we always come in looking for a third bout with Pacquiao and hopefully it will happen," he reiterated after defeating the top lightweight challenger.
So the question is will Pacquiao prefer to take care of unfinished business against his old rival, or will he look to take on a fresh face in Andre Berto or an older veteran in Shane Mosley. Time will tell, but if they do meet again, despite Pacquiao's move up in weight, I have a feeling that we'll see another epic clash.