Juan Manuel Marquez says he wants neutral, non-Nevada judges appointed for his fourth fight with Manny Pacquiao on December 8 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, and plans to make the request, even if he isn't sure that it will be granted:

"I will request that the judges for this fight will be composed of one Mexican judge, one Filipino and one neutral judge [from outside of Nevada]. ... I do not know if my request will be processed, but I'm going to make it. ... [If they don't honor my request], then I'm going to fight as I did in my three previous fights - before judges appointed by Nevada. ... I am sure that on this occasion they are going to work with a little bit of fear, and they will give victory to whoever deserves it."

It's actually not a silly request or absurd or anything like that -- he's not asking for an advantage, he's just asking for international judges, and Nevada has the power to do that. With their normal officials stretched thin last week due to Chavez Jr vs Martinez and Canelo vs Lopez happening at the same time, outside officials were brought in to help out.

Personally, I think Marquez is right to request it, and I think it would be honorable for Manny Pacquiao to suggest the same thing. They both know the history of controversy in the series -- hell, Pacquiao even acknowledges that most people thought he lost last year, and one of his talking point reasons for taking this fight is to erase the doubts from the third bout between the two great rivals.

I don't have any real hope that it will actually happen, but I don't see why not -- there are plenty of good international judges that could be brought in for the role, and it's just another story to make the fight more intriguing.

[ Related: Pacquiao and Marquez on ESPN First Take ]