PACQUIAO CONFIRMS ELIGIBILITY AS MANDATORY CONTENDER TO MARQUEZ
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 24 Mar 2007
Filipino ring idol Manny Pacquiao has confirmed his acceptance as mandatory challenger to newly crowned WBC super featherweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez.
Close friend and confidant Rex “Wakee” Salud said he had consulted with Pacquiao who is in Los Angeles training for his showdown with undefeated but unknown Jorge Solis in San Antonio, Texas on April 14 and that Pacquiao had authorized him to accept the designation as mandatory challenger.
Pacquiao was responding to a formal letter from WBC president Jose Sulaiman “to confirm in writing his eligibility and acceptance or denial for the mandatory contender position.”
In his letter Sulaiman said the WBC had previously designated Pacquiao as mandatory contender to the title then held by Marco Antonio Barrera. However, with the victory of Marquez over Barrera, the WBC asked Pacquiao whether he would accept being mandatory contender and indicated they wanted a response by 6 p.m. Mexico Time on Friday, March 23.
Sulaiman also wished Pacquiao the best of luck in his April 14 fight against Solis.
Marquez had earlier said he wanted a rematch with Pacquiao claiming that the result of their first meeting which was declared a draw after Marquez came back from three knockdowns in the opening round was a thorn he wanted to remove.
Pacquiao himself has indicated he was looking forward for a rematch to prove, once and for all that he deserved to be declared the winner which was denied him because of a scoring mistake by judge Burt Clements who admitted his mistake after the fight.
The problem in a rematch remains the legal dispute between Golden Boy Promotions with whom Pacquiao signed a seven-fight contract in mid-September last year and Top Rank Promotions which signed him to a four-fight deal some two months later.
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