Put Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Juan Manuel Marquez down the list of Manny Pacquiao’s probable opponents after Ricky Hatton.
As far as Pacquiao’s chief promoter, Bob Arum, is concerned, World Boxing Organization welterweight champion Miguel Cotto should be next in line.
Arum, big boss of Top Rank promotions, believes Pacman-Cotto is a more attractive offering than the retired Mayweather, who dealt Hatton his only loss in 2007.
The 76-year-old Arum did not even mention Marquez, who was narrowly beaten by Pacquiao last March 15 but has since rebounded with knockout victories over lightweight stars Joel Casamayor and Juan Diaz, respectively.
Pacquiao left London for the United States Wednesday after staging a promotional tour of the megabuck bout with Hatton dubbed “East vs West” on May 2 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
The 30-year-old Pacquiao will proceed to the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood, where he will train under Hall of Famer coach Freddie Roach.
Boxing experts, however, think it would be unwise for Pacquiao to do battle with Cotto, who carries a fearsome record of 34 wins, 27 by knockout, against a lone loss dealt by Antonio Margarito last July 26.
They also cited Cotto’s hefty weight advantage. The 28-year-old Puerto Rican usually enters the ring at 155 to 157 pounds.
Pacquiao was at his heaviest at 147 pounds when he climbed the ring and then wrested the WBC lightweight title from David Diaz via a ninth round knockout last June 28.
Thoughts?
{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }
Why would he want his best fighter to get murdered?
Poor Pac, mofo should fight Marquez again.
Arum loves to monopolize boxing, doesn’t he??? Puts all of HIS stars against each other, and doesn’t give any of the other top fighters who are with other promoters an opportunity to face fighters in his stable. Pacquiao/Cotto is not a good idea, at least not right away. Pacquiao is jumping weight classes like a madman. I would like to see him take care of some business for a little while at 140lbs. I think 140lbs is the best weight class for him right now. He’ll fight Hatton on May 2, let Campbell and JMM go talk to each other and make a fight, and then Pacquiao (provided he is successful against Hatton) can face the JMM/Campbell winner at 140lbs.
It’s obvious they’re trying to cash out on Pacman while they can. They don’t think he wants to stick around boxing too much longer so they’re lining up nothing but big fights for him. Marquez won’t see a third fight unless he does something that makes the average fans clamor for it.
Why should JMM face Campbell at 140? If JMM moves up again, it should be for a title or against Pacquiao.
That said, it’s very difficult to picture JMM against one of the strong 140 titlists like Urango. It would be like a mini-bodybuilder facing a mini-stick. Even though the gap in skill and talent would be great, the difference in size and strength would probably neutralize the advantages JMM has over a guy like Urango. In other words, if Diaz was able to pressure the heck out of him and put him in some tough spots imagine what a fighter like Urango would do?
I would prefer to see Marquez fight Pacquiao in a rubbermatch, let me clarify that first. However, Marquez would be wise to stay active in the interim. Is he going to wait for Pacquiao (assuming he beats Hatton), only to discover that Pacquiao may not face him right away if Arum does indeed match him against Cotto?
The differences in size and strength of guys like Urango or other strong 140lb contenders would not neutralize JMM’s advantages anymore than a complete fighter like Floyd Mayweather, Jr would.
There’s no way in hell JMM has a better chance of beating Mayweather than he does of beating a Juan Urango or Nate Campbell. Urango is physically strong, but not nearly as skilled as Diaz.
To stay active in the interim, he should rematch Barrera (if he defeats Kahn) or finally get a perceived "easy" fight against a name a la Morales. He could even one up Pacquiao again by beating the tar out of David Diaz even worse. JMM needs a Solis right now. He’s been in some really tough fight of late.
I disagree. The reason I feel JMM would be competitive with PBF at 140 is because PBF hasn’t fought in several years and he’s a safety first fighter. For these reasons, I pick PBF but via decision.
I don’t think he can wait for Pacquiao. Pacquiao fights in May he won’t fight again till November or December, I wouldn’t want Marquez sitting around that long. A non title fight with Campbell at 140 would be a good fight and it would keep his options open,, keeps him active if his goal is to fight the Pacquiao-Hatton winner, allows him to keep his 135 title, he also gets to fight a fighter in Campbell who like himself will be fighting for the first time at 140, he gets to fight a fighter who is as just as long in the tooth as him. It has some selling advantages, Campbell never lost his 135 title in the ring, Marquez has his and I guess you could say they would be fighting for the 135 title at 140.
That’s a great case for making that fight. Although JMM can’t afford to waste any time, I just feel he needs a light touch right now.
Not too many light touches at 140 lately. Pacquiao, Hatton, Campbell, Bradley, Holt, Victor Ortiz coming up, etc.
Who do you want to see Marquez fight at 140lbs?
Vivian Harris? DeMarcus Corley??
SEVERAL years??????????
Was Floyd’s rematch with Castillo in December of 2002 his last fight????
Or was it Hatton in December of 2007???
Because there’s a BIG difference there. It’s only March 2009.
Wait a sec….
You mean Floyd hasn’t fought at 140 in several years…. Ohhhhhhh OK. But still, it hasn’t even been four years since his last appearance at 140lbs. Floyd fought Gatti at 140lbs in June of 2005.
I wouldn’t mind seeing that fight. Campbell would at least make the build up interesting with his shit talk.
I think JMM would do better against Holt or Torres. They don’t seem like huge junior welterweights and I think Marquez’s boxing would outclass them. Torres hits hard but he gets hit alot too. I think he also beats Paulie M. I haven’t seen enough of Bradley. But bigger guys like Hatton and Urango would overpower him at that weight I think.
Not every fight has to be for a title. Fuck the sanctioning bodies. Sometimes significance and intrigue take precedence over the damn titles. After all, did Pacquiao fight Oscar for a title? When you get to a certain level of greatness, titles don’t matter as much. Pacquiao is considered by many as the best P4P fighter in the world right now… and he’s not even a champion or titleholder in any particular weight class at this moment. Marquez should only go up to 140 to fight for a title? Why? So he can just go ahead and relinguish it in his next fight, anyway?
I think JMM/Campbell would be an interesting fight as well as a pretty decent scrap. Campbell talks enough shit to make for good promotional buildup. I would favor JMM. Fighting and defeating Campbell would show the public that JMM wasn’t waiting for Campbell to move up to 140lbs or trying to get those two meaningless WB-this and IB-that trinkets at 135lbs without having to fight Campbell for them. It would prove that Marquez, following his consecutive wins over Casamayor and Diaz, is continuing to seek the biggest threats and challenges available to him that aren’t named Manny Pacquiao. Doing this would also increase the demand for a rubbermatch with Pacquiao, should Marquez shut Campbell up by beating him convincingly. Not only would JMM have beaten Diaz after Campbell already did so, but then he beats the daddy as well.
I think Marquez vs. Campbell is a great fight for both of their debuts into the 140lb weight class.
Rebz, I’m sure a rematch clause can be worked out, just for you and only you, in the event that Campbell smacks JMM around, beats him up, and makes him obediently kneel down on all fours.
Rebel would wet his pants if JMM defeated Floyd.
Who wouldn’t? He only has 1 fan left in the world and his name is Chris.
does anyone else REALLY want to see a Cotto-margarito rematch now? i know it has to wait until margarito’s suspension is lifted… but i really feel like this rematch NEEDS to happen. i think it would go a long way to defining both fighters’ careers.
I agree, and whats good about it is that it isn’t going to take much to sell. It’s a natural. The only potential problem I see with it is can Margarito make 147 again after a year off and if he can’t will Cotto fight him at 154? Somehow weight wise I feel that 147 is the limit for Cotto.
According to Steve Kim from maxboxing Arum has Cotto lined up to fight Clottey in June at MSG.
That’s a good fight as well as a logical choice. Clottey is a top 2-3 welterweight who does have a following in NY; he’s from the Bronx. That would unify a couple of belts, making a potential Mosley/Cotto rematch even bigger if Cotto can get past Clottey (which is no guarentee whatsoever).
Again, this does not hurt Arum, who promotes both of those fighters.
If Mosley doesn’t get the Pacman/Hatton winner he should fight Berto to set up a undisputed title fight against the Cotto/Clottey winner.
Pac against Cotto or Mosley is a MUST see.
Other than that…I agree with the UNDISPUTED approach for both Cotto/Mosley.