Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez and unbeaten US boxer Tim Bradley, who each beat Filipino icon Manny Pacquiao last year, will fight each other in September, the Los Angeles Times reported on Tuesday.
Promoter Bob Arum told the newspaper that Marquez would take on Bradley in Las Vegas on September 14 for the World Boxing Organisation welterweight crown that Bradley took from Pacquiao by split decision last June.
“Marquez wanted to fight Bradley and Bradley wanted to fight Marquez,” Arum told the .
The deal pushes back plans for a possible fifth fight between Pacquiao and Marquez, who knocked out the Asian star in the sixth round last December after suffering a draw and two narrow defeats in early fights against “Pac-Man.”
Arum said the major stumbling block to a fifth Marquez-Pacquiao matchup was Pacquiao insisting the fight be staged in Macau or Singapore, where he could avoid a 40 per cent tax on his prize money.
“Marquez isn’t convinced Marquez-Pacquiao in Asia will result in the pay-per-view money being as strong,” Arum said.
