Pacquiao-Marquez 4 on December 8 almost a done deal

After an extremely long wait, Manny Pacquiao’s next opponent for his December 8 bout will be named on September 18, and all roads point to a fourth match against his nemesis Juan Manuel “Dinamita” Marquez. The two have fought three times in a span of nine years. They first tangled in 2004, which resulted in a draw. Their second bout, a super featherweight battle in 2008, was won via split decision by Pacquiao. Then in their fight last year, most people expected a one-sided beatdown in Pacquiao’s favor, but the fight was once again as close as the first two, this time with Pacquiao escaping with a majority decision win. Pacquiao initially had four opponents to choose from, namely Floyd Mayweather, Miguel Cotto, Timothy Bradley, and Marquez. Mayweather was considered a long shot to begin with though, as the undefeated American was just recently released from jail. A potential fight against Cotto fell apart as the two combatants could not agree on a catch weight, leading Cotto to pick Austin Trout as his opponent for a December 1 fight date. “We are very close to concluding the deal,” said Top Rank Promotions head honcho Bob Arum in an interview with Jon Saraceno of USA Today. The last Pacquiao-Marquez fight sold 1.3 million pay-per-views compared to only 900,000 for Pacquiao-Bradley. The reaction to a proposed Pacquiao-Bradley rematch also received lukewarm acceptance from the boxing world because of the highly controversial result of the first match. Another Pacquiao-Marquez will be easier to sell to the public as they will be guaranteed another close encounter, much like their first three matches. Dinamita’s legions of Mexican fans feel that he will always have a shot at beating Pacquiao. The fighting Congressman has defeated a multitude of Mexican legends and a Marquez victory over the one they call 'the Mexicutioner' will be most welcome. Team Pacquiao is currently thinking out of the box with regards to the fight’s venue. Although it was earlier announced that Las Vegas will against host Pacquiao’s fight, other options have popped up due to money issues. Pacquiao has only fought in the states of Nevada and Texas in the past six years but his team is trying to be more creative to save more money. They are looking at hosting the fight in Mexico City where they will save around six million dollars in taxes compared to Las Vegas. After receiving the shorter end of the stick again in their third fight, Marquez said in a post-fight interview that he wants their next fight to be held in Mexico’s capital. His wish might just come true. - AMD, GMA News