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Pacquiao-Marquez V in the offing?

A Manny Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez V fight is  likely to happen in November after Marquez put on a clinic against Mike Alvarado and won a lopsided unanimous decision in a welterweight title elimination bout before a raucous pro-Marquez crowd of 12,090 last Saturday night.

It was the first fight at the refurbished Forum, which had not hosted a boxing card since 2001.

The resounding victory, one in which Marquez did have to survive a knockdown in the ninth round, made Marquez the mandatory challenger for Pacquiao, who regained his welterweight world title by outpointing Timothy Bradley Jnr. in their April 12 rematch.

The judges had it 119-109, 117-109, 117-109 for Marquez. ESPN.com also had it 117-109 for Marquez, who dropped Alvarado in the eighth round.

Making the win even sweeter for Marquez was the fact that it took place at the Forum, where, as an unknown, he cut his teeth and developed into a featherweight contender, going 12-0 with nine knockouts in the arena between 1995 and 1999.

“I said it was going to be a tough fight and I said it was going to be a difficult fight,” Marquez said. “I wanted to give the public here a gift — a gift that dignifies the history of this event and the history of the Forum.

“I wanted to make this fight a gift to the fans.”

Another gift might be a fifth fight with Pacquiao. He and Marquez have already met four times in all-time great fights. Although Pacquiao leads the series 2-1-1, Marquez’s lone victory was as definitive as the others were controversial.

In their fourth fight, in December 2012, Marquez knocked Pacquiao unconscious with a right hand at the end of the sixth round for one of the most memorable knockouts in boxing history.

Although Marquez (56-7-1, 40 KOs) lost his next fight by split decision challenging then —titleholder Bradley in October, he bounced back in a big way against Alvarado, the former junior welterweight titlist. 

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