MANILA---With no other marquee contenders on the horizon, Juan Manuel Marquez may yet get a third crack at pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao.

Interviewed by Manila-based sportswriters in Baguio City, Top Rank chief Bob Arum bared that a Pacquiao-Marquez trilogy makes the most sense financially, assuming that Pacquiao beats Shane Mosley on May 7 and Pacquiao-Mayweather doesn’t push through.

“You come back really to Marquez,” said Arum, who left yesterday for Las Vegas. “A draw and a close loss to Manny—that seems to be the most attractive fight.”

In their first showdown in Las Vegas in 2004, Marquez recovered from three first-round knockdowns to salvage a draw with Pacquiao.

They met again in 2008, with Pacquiao prevailing by split decision with a knockdown of the Mexican to boot.

According to Arum, the Pacquiao-Marquez rematch at Mandalay Bay gave him the most goose bumps as the fight unfolded in an electrifying atmosphere.

The 79-year-old Arum added that a Pacquiao-Marquez III “will also give time for either (Timothy) Bradley or Andre (Berto) to get their names out there, and win another fight or two. Whoever becomes more impressive over the rest of this year can probably be considered as a Pacquiao opponent in 2012.”

Arum explained that he didn’t put Marquez ahead of Mosley simply because of economics.

“I didn’t want to do that fight before Mosley because I’m reaching out to this vast audience on CBS. So I needed an English-speaking opponent.”

The only problem that may arise is the catch weight for the fight and how much Marquez is going to get.

Pacquiao now fights at 147 pounds, while Marquez holds court at 135 lb. When Marquez fought Mayweather at a catch weight of 144 last year, the Mexican appeared sluggish and was beaten by the American.

Roy Luarca, Phil. Daily Inquirer