Bob Arum to Have Dinner with Juan Manuel Marquez to Discuss 5th Pacquiao Bout

With all the hoopla over Floyd Mayweather jumping ship from HBO to Showtime, the other fighter that can draw an audience comparable to Mayweather—Manny Pacquiao—may land a fifth bout with Juan Manuel Marquez, if Bob Arum has anything to say about it. Arum and Marquez are set to have dinner next week in Las Vegas, with the main course being a discussion on a possible fifth Pacquiao-Marquez bout (according to BoxingSecene.com).

Arum told Boxing Scene, "(Marquez will be) coming to Las Vegas and we'll go to dinner and he will stay over and hopefully we'll accomplish something."

Shortly after his devastating knockout of Pacquiao, Marquez mentioned (per ESPN.Co.UK) that he felt there was no need for a fifth fight, but if someone could change his mind about that it's Arum. Arum and his gift of gab and a hefty payday may do the trick, setting up what could be Pacquiao's last bout.

Now with the upper hand, Marquez should garner a larger payday, most likely the biggest of his career, and that alone should convince Marquez to give Pacquiao one more go.

With HBO reeling with the loss of Mayweather to Showtime, the longtime boxing programming king needs the fifth bout to happen, as it would be one of the biggest fights of the year and help ease the pain of losing Mayweather to its rival.

"The prospects are very good especially with the Floyd Mayweather Jr. deal with Showtime. We can possibly have an extra bonus from HBO to make this fight happen," Arum said.

Arum also mentioned that the fifth bout won't be held outside of the U.S. as was rumored before, so where Pacquiao-Marquez V would be held is anyone's guess.