Arum to pick next Pacquiao opponent

Source : Abac Cordero (The Philippine Star)

MANILA, Philippines - Manny Pacquiao will fight anybody Bob Arum puts in front of him.

“Kahit sino. Basta boxer (Anybody. As long as he’s a boxer),” said Pacquiao, who must have gotten sick and tired of all the talks surrounding a fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr.




Pacquiao had said a hundred times he wants the fight. But he can’t seem to understand why the undefeated American can’t agree to a 50-50 split of the purse.

Mayweather also said he wants the fight. But his insistence that he get a bigger piece of the pie has once again kept the fight from happening.

Last Monday, the Top Rank chief told The STAR he’s ready to pull the plug on Pacquiao vs Mayweather. That fight is now clinically dead.

Arum is now shopping for new opponent for Pacquiao. Once again, the name of Timothy Bradley, the undefeated light-welterweight champion, is being mentioned.

Reports said Pacquiao had picked Miguel Cotto as his alternate opponent, just in case the Mayweather thing didn’t come along.

But Cotto, now the WBO light-middleweight champion, is playing hard to get, a luxury which he has, saying he won’t drop down to 147 just to fight Pacquiao on June 9.

Instead, the bald-headed Puerto Rican might face Mayweather on May 5 because the latter, a champion at 147 lb like Pacquiao, might be more than willing to take on Cotto at around 150.

Cotto said he’s weighing both options. But while he’s scratching his head trying to decide, Arum is moving another step forward by looking at Bradley.

Arum said he will soon talk to Bradley regarding a fight with Pacquiao, and at the same time try to put up Juan Manuel Marquez vs Lamont Peterson in April in Dallas.

It’s a twinbill Arum has in his Harvard mind, and whoever wins between Marquez and Peterson could end up fighting the winner between Pacquiao and Bradley.

Arum is always a step ahead, and if he manages to put up this “four-man tournament,” he gives Pacquiao another big fight to look forward to, assuming he beats Bradley.

Of course, Arum is still optimistic that Pacquiao vs Mayweather might happen in November.

“We could have a tournament. Let’s say that if Mayweather doesn’t ever come to the table, which is a possibility,” Arum told Lem Satterfield of www.ringTV.com.

“Then let’s say that Manny fights Bradley because Cotto has a problem with the weight, then Marquez fights Peterson, and the winner of that fights fights the winner of Pacquiao-Bradley – if that’s the fight that we make,” Arum added.

Pacquiao has two fights being lined up in front of him by Arum.

Now who needs Mayweather?