Marquez vs Alvarez says Golden Boy Promotion?

Right now one of the hottest topics in the sport is what direction lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez will take next. Despite having a very financially-rewarding offer on the table to resign with Golden Boy Promotions and possibly land fights with Zab Judah or Robert Guerrero, the Mexico City star seems to be intrigued by the possibility of a third fight with WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao.

The history between Marquez and Pacquiao is controversial and bitter to an extent, as the two men engaged in a heated split draw in May of 2004 while Pacquiao won a razor-thin split decision nearly four years later. To this day Marquez, despite being dropped three times in the first fight and once in the second, claims that both fights belonged to him and seems to have somewhat of an obsession with his Filipino rival.

Marquez let his promotional contract with Golden Boy Promotions pass by foregoing an April meeting with Erik Morales at the Mandalay Bay, making him a free agent in theory, and seems be very serious about an offer from Top Rank of a reported $5 million dollars plus pay-per-view incentives for a third Pacquiao fight.

Some are saying it is a no-brainer that the 37-year old Marquez will opt to side with the Pacquiao fight but Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer claims that it isn't so simple.

"Juan Manuel Marquez knows that prior to him entering into any agreement, he has to come to us and we have the right to match. He has not approached us yet with any such request to match," Schaefer told our friend Rick Reeno at BoxingScene.com.

Golden Boy reportedly has the right to match any offer from Top Rank up until February of 2012 and Schaefer seemed to pull a wild card in suggesting that Guadalajara's Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez may be the man to fill that void.

"[Juan Manuel Marquez vs. Saul Alvarez] would be a very colorful promotion. It sounds like, based on interviews that I've read, both from Juan Manuel and Nacho Beristain, that they are perfectly happy to fight at 147 pounds. Canelo said he would do 147. Canelo is actually going to start working out and training in Big Bear, and he'll have a full nutritional staff and so on. So for Canelo, if he needs to make 147, it's no problem to make 147."

While Schaefer seems like he may be reaching a bit on this one, seeing as though Marquez and Alvarez currently campaign three weight classes away from one another, I wouldn't be surprised to see such an offer thrown out just because of how serious they are in their efforts of retaining Marquez.

The news on this seems to be changing by the day and it's definitely an evolving story. But before anything Pacquiao needs to take care of his business against Shane Mosley this Saturday at the MGM Grand, a fight that is far from a lock despite the lopsided odds.