Juan Manuel Marquez delays scheduled return to ring until November

Juan Manuel Marquez was slated to fight in July. (Reuters)

Interim junior welterweight titleholder Juan Manuel Marquez, who had been planning to return to the ring in July at Cowboys Stadium, will not fight again until November, multiple sources told SI.com, when he could be in line for a fourth fight with Manny Pacquiao.

Marquez, 38, has been penciled into the July date since April, when he defeated Sergey Fedchenko to win the interim WBO title. The original plan was for Marquez to face former lightweight titleholder Brandon Rios, who was the co-feature on Marquez’s card and would move up to 140-pounds.

However Rios’s issues making weight -- he failed to make the 135-pound limit in each of his last two fights -- concerned Marquez, who ruled him out as an opponent. Negotiations between Marquez and Zab Judah stalled recently, and Marquez decided there was not enough money in a fight with undefeated Filipino prospect Mercito Gesta.

Instead, Marquez (54-6-1) will wait until November, when he hopes he will get one more chance against Pacquiao. Marquez lost a closely contested decision last November, his second straight narrow defeat to the Filipino star. If a fight between Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather cannot be made for the fall, Marquez, who helped generate 1.25 million pay per view buys with Pacquiao in their last fight, is expected to be at the top of his list.

-Chris Mannix