Since Floyd Mayweather, Jr. will be doing a little jail time in the early part of 2012, Manny Pacquiao?s opponent for his next fight will likely be one of three fighters: Juan Manuel Marquez, Miguel Cotto, or Timothy Bradley.
Personally, I don?t want to see a fourth fight between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez any more than I want to see a sequel to ?Lethal Weapon? or ?Die Hard?. The action is decent, but we already have a good idea of how it?s going to play out. A rematch against Cotto is a better option, only because of the fact that Cotto redeemed himself in a rematch with Antonio Margarito and he has shown signs of improving, even at this advanced stage of his career. But Pacquiao?s twelfth-round TKO victory over Cotto in November 2009 was about as definitive as it gets. It wasn?t a split decision that left us with a sense of unfinished business. It was a prolonged beating, followed by a stoppage. True, it would probably be a little more competitive this time around, given Cotto?s ability to make adjustments and the idea that Pacquiao has slowed down a little bit. But do you really want to see either of these two fight again? I, myself, am not particularly interested.
This leaves us with Timothy Bradley, who I think is the perfect opponent at this time. And I happen to believe that his style of fighting would make for a more entertaining match-up with Pacquiao, opposed to Pacquiao-Mayweather.
