Ever since last Saturday night when Manny Pacquiao destroyed Ricky Hatton inside 2 brutal rounds, Manny Pacquiao is now more than ever the man that every fighter around the 140-147 pound weight limit neighborhood wants to face.
The top four names that are getting the most ink and mentions for a possible date with Pacquaio are, Shane Mosley, Miguel Cotto, and the winner between the Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Juan Manuel Marquez bout.
The biggest money fight without a doubt is a Mayweather Jr.-Pacquiao clash, the most entertaining may be a Marquez/Pacquiao trilogy match, but the most exciting has got to be a Mosley-Pacquiao war or a Cotto/Pacquiao fight.
The only problem with a potential Cotto-Pacquiao match is that Cotto must first get past the dangerous Joshua Clottey, With Mayweather-Marquez, they both fight each other on July 18th so one will eliminate the other from the sweepstakes, but on June 13th, Joshua Clottey will also look to eliminate Cotto’s chances from a future date with Pacquaio.
As if fighting against the tough as nails Clottey wasn’t pressure enough, Cotto will have to get the job done without his uncle Evangelista Cotto, who after a physical confrontation with his nephew has been replaced with Joe Santiago, oh and by the way, the man of the hour, Manny Pacquiao will be sitting at ringside observing his possible next opponent. Talk about pressure.
It’s no surprise that Bob Arum would love to have a Cotto/Pacquiao clash, since Arum promotes both fighters. What is a surprise, is the fact that Arum is just about penciling in Cotto’s name almost as if to totally overlook Joshua Clottey. This can not be sitting well with Clottey, Clottey by the way is also promoted by Arum.
As far as Mosley goes, when you look as good as Mosley looked in his last fight, you make it hard for guys to want to fight you. Say that Clottey beats Cotto, which he possibly might be able to do, Clottey would be there for Shane, but it would be a fight that would do very little for Shane financially. Mosley’s best chance for a big money fight is to persuade Pacquiao to fight him instead or to convince Hatton that Hatton’s knockout loss was a sign that Hatton can no longer fight at 140 and must now finally move and stay at 147, where at 147 Hatton and Mosley can meet for a brawl in Manchester. It would be great if the veteran Mosley were to land a Pacquiao or Hatton fight, but as much as I hate to say it, sometimes when you win you really lose.
Who Manny Pacquiao will face next, is anyone?s guess, the cards are still being dealt. In July, Mayweather and Marquez will wipe the steam from the mirror to make it a little clearer to see, but on June 13th the time will come for Cotto, the saying goes that we’ll cross that bridge when we get there, well for Cotto, it’s almost time to cross that bridge.
