Marquez prefers Cotto showdown over 5th fight vs Pacquiao

MANILA, Philippines – Saying he values his legacy more than money, Juan Manuel Marquez is setting his sights on a showdown with Puerto Rican star Miguel Cotto.

In an interview with Alvaro Morales of ESPN Desportes, the 43-year-old Marquez insisted that he will not fight archrival Manny Pacquiao for a fifth time no matter how much he’ll earn from it.

Pacquiao is so keen on renewing his rivalry with Marquez that he has asked Tourism Secretary Wanda Corazon Teo to cough up at least Php2.5 billion to make a fifth fight possible in the Philippines.

But Marquez – who had the last laugh in his storied rivalry with Pacquiao when he knocked the Filipino icon out in 2012 – is still not interested.

"I was offered a fifth fight with Pacquiao for a very good amount of money. The economic factor is important, but what moves me more is legacy... it moves me more to have a great opponent in the ring,” he told Morales.

Marquez maintained that he has nothing more to prove against Pacquiao, the current WBO welterweight champion, and that he will instead seek to boost his legacy against Cotto.

“With Pacquiao we closed that chapter and Cotto is a great fighter, he has a great legacy, the Mexico-Puerto Rico rivalry that is always at the top of the mountain," Marquez added.

Cotto, interestingly, lost to Pacquiao via technical knockout in 2009, but has recovered to super welterweight and middleweight titles.

Pacquiao, for his part, better start looking for someone else.