Las Vegas: Juan Manuel Marquez retained his WBA and WBO lightweight titles with a unanimous decision victory over American Juan Diaz on Saturday before demanding a third fight with Manny Pacquiao.
The Mexican drew with the Filipino in 2004 and suffered a narrow defeat four years later but will hope to come away with a victory if they meet for a third time.
"The trilogy with Pacquiao is what I want," said Marquez, 51-5-1, (37 KOs). "Everybody wants to see it. It's good for all fight fans, for the Mexicans, the Filipinos. Everyone wants to see it. That's the most important fight for me now."
The fight with Diaz was a rematch of a February 2009 contest, in which Diaz set the pace early before Marquez took control and scored a knockout in the eighth round.
Sharp combinations
There were no knockdowns this time, but on several occasions Marquez appeared to hurt Diaz with sharp combinations. He landed more than Diaz in every one of the twelve rounds and in total scored with 288 punches, 133 more than his opponent.
Diaz, 35-4 (17 KOs) said he had intended to set a more measured pace than in the previous encounter, but that Marquez had thwarted his plans.
"I fought the best fight I could," he said.
"I think I fought a good fight. We were trading punches. I didn't want to stand in front of him. The game plan was to get in there, throw combinations, step around him and get out.
"But it was tough and I got hit with some good punches. He's a great fighter."
Meanwhile, French southpaw Jean Paul Mendy won the chance to fight for a super middleweight world title, even though he was knocked out flat on the canvas when it happened on Saturday.
Mendy was awarded a disqualification victory over Cameroon-born Australian Sakio Bika in their elimination fight to decide the next mandatory challenger for the International Boxing Federation crown in the division.
Bika, 31, landed an early flurry against Mendy, 36, that had the Frenchman backed into a corner, then landed a left hook that put Mendy down on his right knee.
Bika, who had not fought in a year, followed with a powerful right uppercut to the jaw that slammed into Mendy and knocked him face-first onto the canvas, where he was motionless.
Major crown
Referee Joe Cortez disqualified Bika after only 79 seconds, awarding the victory to still-unbeaten Mendy, who rose to 29-0 with one drawn. Bika fell to 28-4 with two drawn.
"I'm really disappointed," Bika said. "I was excited. I never saw that his knee was on the canvas."
Mendy eventually rose and sat on his stool for several minutes being examined by medical personnel before being taken to a local hospital as a precaution.
Gabriel Gaide, Mendy's manager, said Mendy was fine and ready for his first chance at a major world crown.
The victory makes Mendy the mandatory challenger for the winner of an October 15 fight between champion Lucian Bute, a Canadian-based Romanian southpaw, and American Jesse Brinkley.
