Juan Manuel Márquez has revealed he turned down a nine-figure sum for his fifth fight with Manny Pacquiao.
The Mexican star recently visited Puerto Rico to make a deal to boost his bout with former boxer Miguel Cotto.
And it was there that ‘Dinamita’ lifted the lid on its multi-million dollar offer to meet the Filipino for the fifth time.
Márquez did not win any of his first three matches against ‘Pac Man’ who had two wins while the other was a draw.
But back in December 2012, the last time the two met, Márquez stunningly beat Pacquiao with his right hand at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada in the round of 16.
When attending SoLpresa program hosted by YouTuber Chente Ydrach, Márquez said:
“They offered $150 million on the table for the fifth game, but I said ‘no, I don’t want to play the fifth’.”
He added:
“Better pride, dignity, love for sport and the most important victory of my life because we beat the top heavyweight boxer at the time.”
The leader of the International Boxing Hall of Fame, 48, has a career in paid martial arts that spans more than two decades, competed from 1993 to 2014 and retired with a record 56 -7-1 (40 KOs).
Pacquiao is now 43 years old and turned his back on the sport last August after he lost to Yordenis Ugas for the WBA WBA Welterweight title. He focused on the presidential election in his home country but failed to gather enough votes to win.
