WBO/WBA lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez claims that he was in shock when he found out from Golden Boy Promotions that Manny Pacquiao passed on their trilogy fight and instead agreed to defend his WBO welterweight title against Joshua Clottey on March 13 at Cowboys Stadium in Texas.

I'm not exactly sure why Marquez would be surprised. He was coming off a one-sided loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr., and according to a report from Sports Illustrated - the Mexican champion demanded a 50-50 split on the money. And he followed Mayweather's lead by requesting random Olympic-style drug tests. You would think Marquez was the A-side fighter with those kind of requests. Marquez seems to think that he played a big role in the Mayweather pay-per-view producing a buyrate number of 1-million plus. I agree with Mayweather's opinion that he carried that buyrate number on his back with little help from Marquez. Just because you co-headlined a pay-per-view with Mayweather, it doesn't make you Mayweather.

Marquez on the other hand simply thinks Pacquiao is afraid of him.

"When the fight between Mayweather against Pacquiao fell through, De La Hoya told me that I was the next option [for Pacquiao] and I told him that I was ready to fight once more with him. He told me that he would speak with Bob Arum, but in the end they surprised me with his decision that he preferred to sign another fight, so once again he is afraid me," Marquez told The Record .

Marquez is coming back to action on May 1 in Las Vegas. If he wins, he may return to Las Vegas in September for a major fight. He seems to think a Hatton fight will not happen by May, but leaves September as a possibility for it.

"A lot of boxers want to fight with me, Edwin Valero, Michael Katsidis, Amir Khan, but I have to take a look at all of the options and choose the best one that makes the most boxing sense, and economic sense," Marquez said.