SAVE for King Kong or Godzilla, Manny Pacquiao “doesn’t care who he fights (next),” Top Rank chairman Bob Arum said yesterday from Las Vegas.
Following reports that an announcement will be forthcoming, Arum said it is still premature to come up with an official statement not only regarding the identity of Pacquiao’s next opponent but the venue as well.
Humberto Soto of Mexico, however, remains as the leading candidate to be Pacquiao’s next foe with Vancouver as at the most likely venue of the Oct. 6 fight.
“We are sorting out a lot of things,” said Arum, whose concentration is focused mainly on a slambang card that takes place in Las Vegas this weekend.
Arum’s Las Vegas-based promotional outfit is at war with Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions (GBP) over the rights to the 28-year-old Filipino southpaw and a retired Los Angeles judge is trying to work out a deal for the two parties to reach a compromise.
Soto, 27, is banking on his recent seventh-round knockout win over Bobby Pacquiao at Madison Square Garden in New York, a feat that earned him the ire of Manny.
Manny had implied in the past interview that he prefers to face Soto in order to avenge his brother’s humiliating defeat.
Since he also fights under Top Rank, Arum can easily arrange a fight between the Mexican hitman and Pacquiao.
Another name who is said to have an outside chance of securing a Pacquiao fight is Marco Antonio Barrera.
Barrera, however, is under contract with GBP so a rematch with Manny appears difficult.
But some ringsiders think Barrera could be it since a fight with Pacquiao guarantees a knockout at the box-office and in pay-per-view sales.
Should Pacquiao agree to face Soto, he would earn less money but if he decides to meet Barrera, he would certainly get much more.
Barrera, 33, is also aching to settle an old grudge with Manny following his 11th-round knockout defeat he sustained in Nov. 2003 in San Antonio.
