Pacquiao-Marquez rematch set

Once more. Or perhaps it should be "once and for all."

Manny Pacquiao agreed Wednesday to a fourth fight against longtime foe Juan Manuel Marquez. The two future Hall of Famers will meet in a 12-round welterweight bout Dec. 8 at the MGM Grand Garden.

Top Rank chairman Bob Arum, who promotes Pacquiao, confirmed the fight, which was two months in the making, finally was done. The official announcement will be made Tuesday in Los Angeles. The fight probably will be televised by HBO Pay Per View.

"It's perseverance," Arum said of the long, drawn-out process to schedule the fight. "When business guys are buying and selling a business or buying or selling a building and it's for multimillions of dollars, it's not done in two seconds. It's back and forward. We're talking about a considerable amount of money, and we finally got everything resolved.

"It's not easy when you're dealing with a principal who's living in a country where day is night and night is day. When it's morning here, or noon here (in Las Vegas), it's midnight there (in the Philippines). You go crazy. It's 15 hours difference between Las Vegas and Manila."

Arum refused to divulge the financial terms of the deal or that Marquez was the opponent. But the last time they fought, on Nov. 12, Pacquiao's purse was $10 million and Marquez received $5 million. Look for that figure to double for their final go-round.

Pacquiao's decision to meet Marquez means Timothy Bradley will have to find another opponent. Bradley defeated Pacquiao on June 9 in a controversial 12-round split decision at the Grand Garden, and the contract had a rematch clause.

But Pacquiao (54-4-2, 38 knockouts) decided not to exercise it. Instead, he will try to beat Marquez convincingly, something he has yet to achieve.

Their first fight in 2004 at the MGM, which saw Pacquiao knock Marquez down three times in the first round, ultimately ended in a 12-round draw. The rematch in 2008 at Mandalay Bay saw Pacquiao win a 12-round split decision. Their most recent meeting saw Pacquiao take a controversial majority decision. After coming up short the third time, Marquez vowed never to fight in Las Vegas again.

However, he apparently was convinced to come back to Nevada for a fourth shot at his nemesis. Marquez's most recent performance came on April 14 in Mexico City, where he dominated Serhiy Fedchenko in winning a 12-round unanimous decision.

Freddie Roach, who trains the 33-year-old Pacquiao, said Wednesday he's going to have to come up with a different game plan this time around for the 39-year-old Marquez (54-6-1, 39 KOs).

"Strategy and logic don't go along with that fight," Roach said. "I've shown Manny the logical way to fight Marquez three times, and we've had difficulty each time. The idea is to move away from his lead right hand, and Manny walks right into it. We haven't solved this guy.

"I think Bradley is the easier fight for Manny. I think with everything that happened the last time, Manny would be down three or four rounds before the first bell if he fought Marquez. Even though I think Manny won all the fights, they were close, and 90 percent of the crowd thought Marquez won the last fight."

But Pacquiao is about big business, and from Arum's perspective, it made more sense financially for Pacquiao to fight Marquez rather than Bradley. When Pacquiao and Marquez fought in November, they generated 1.25 million pay-per-view buys. Pacquiao's fight with Bradley managed 925,000 buys, and Arum wasn't convinced the controversy of that June 9 fight would be enough to beat those PPV numbers this time around.

"The important thing is everything's done, and we're ready to bring Manny back to Las Vegas, where he loves to fight," Arum said.

Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow him on Twitter: @stevecarprj.