Bob Arum Claims Juan Manuel Marquez Will Be Offered Fight Against Manny Pacquiao

To the surprise of few, Top Rank chairman Bob Arum revealed that the plans are already in motion for a fifth fight between Juan Manuel Marquez and Manny Pacquiao, according to Yahoo Sports' Kevin Iole:

Following his win over Mike Alvarado on Saturday night, Dinamita seemed to brush aside any speculation, per Top Rank Boxing:

Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated wonders how much of that was Marquez being coy in order to drive up demand:

Boxing as a whole is suffering from a dearth of established stars. That's due in part to having the same guys fighting each other at the top of every card.

Those fans who want to see new guys elevated to the main event likely won't be happy to hear the news that Marquez-Pacquiao V may be in the works.

The converse is that Pacquiao and Marquez have put on some great fights in the past, and neither has shown any sign of slowing down in a major way. Marquez looked great against Alvarado, while Pacquiao showed with his victory over Timothy Bradley that he can adapt his style to his diminishing power.

Pac-Man does need to settle a score, as well. He arguably lost the third fight and was knocked out in the fourth. The demand would be there if another rematch between Marquez and Pacquiao is put on the books.

Considering the lack of many possible contenders for both Pacquiao and Marquez, the logical choice seems to be another rematch.

Sometimes the low-hanging fruit is the best fruit.