On a glittery Monday night when he stood side by side with fellow boxing heroes, Manny Pac­quiao’s star shone brightest. Appearing as guest speaker during the 13th Elorde Boxing Awards and Banquet of Champi­ons, Pacquiao took the spotlight as if he hadn’t been the recipient of a brutal beatdown than three months ago. Pacquiao looked jolly when he faced well-wishers and sounded upbeat during interviews but couldn’t exactly provide concrete details about his next fight which he says will be in September.

MANILA (PNA) -- Lttle more than a month before staking his World Boxing Organization and World Boxing Association fly­weight belts, Filipino titleholder Brian Viloria has been pronounced 50 per cent ready to fight Mexican challenger Juan Francisco Estra­da on April 6 in the gambling City of Macau. Filipino trainer Marvin Somo­dio, who has been assisting chief handler Freddie Roach in Viloria’s build up program, yesterday said the Fil-American, Christened “The Hawaiian Punch,” has been responding well to the training regimen charted by Roach in his Wild Card Gym.

World champion Nonito Donaire Jr., Big League Soft­ball World Series winner Team Manila, World Women’s Box­ing Championship gold med­alist Josie Gabuco and reign­ing five-time University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) men’s basketball titlist Ateneo will be the co-winners of the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) Athlete of the Year award.

Harris “The Hitman” Sarmien­to stakes his PXC lightweight title against the young blood Isaiah “Ice” Ordiz at Pacific X- treme Combat 35 on February 16 at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City. The action will start at these times: KSA 5:00pm, UK 3:00pm, Guam 12:00mn, NA PST 8:00pm, and 11:00pm NA EST. “The PXC is proud to pres­ent great matchups to welcome 2013. PXC 35 features fighters from all over the world, which includes rising MMA talents from the Philippines,” said PXC CEO EJ Calvo.

BoxingScene.com has ob­tained a copy of the contract that Golden Boy Promotions issued last Friday to Top Rank - offering $3 million dollars for the services of WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire (31-1, 20KOs). Last week, Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer created a wave of headlines when he exclu­sively advised BoxingScene that he was willing to offer Top Rank a sum of $3 million dollars to secure Donaire for a mega-super ban­tamweight unification with WBO king Abner Mares (25-0, 13KOs), who Golden Boy promotes.

The handwriting is on the wall. Juan Manuel Marquez is start­ing to let Manny Pacquiao know and feel that he won’t settle for crumbs in the event they face each other for the fifth time in September. A report from Mexico said that Marquez has been offered a juicy $15 million purse to bring his act to Dubai in the United Arab Emir­ates to fight an obscure South African. Although the offer is not being given much thought, the mes­sage Team Marquez wants to relay  is loud and clear: Pacquiao has to agree to some sort of a salary cut and for Marquez to get a bigger slice of the pie for the blockbuster fight to take place.

While reports have Manny Pac­quiao and Juan Manuel Marquez both setting the stage for their fifth bout with tune-up fights, Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach, doesn’t think that’s necessary for the Filipino ring icon. In an interview with Fight Hub TV, Roach said, “They’re talk­ing about an April fight in Macau right now. A tune-up fight with him and Marquez on the same show together against different opponents and then they’re talk­ing about a September rematch that’s being negotiated right now.

Promoter Bob Arum believes he doesn’t think Juan Manuel Marquez has talked about retire­ment as an option as a bargaining chip heading towards a fifth fight against Manny Pacquiao. Speak­ing at Kingsway Gym in NYC, as the headliners for the Saturday Top Rank/K2 card at the Madison Square Garden Theater chatted with media, Arum said he wants to make a fifth tussle in Septem­ber. He thinks the bout would take place in perhaps Macau, Mexico City, or Singapore... but not in the CIS. Why?