According to multiple reports, Bob Arum will be meeting with Manny Pacquiao, the current pound-for-pound best fighter and WBO welterweight champion next week, in order to present him with a short list of potential opponents for his next fight which will most likely occur in the late spring. Reportedly on the list of Pacquiao’s potential opponents are: Juan Manuel Marquez, Lamont Peterson, Timothy Bradley and Miguel Cotto, all fine fighters, but my question to the Bobster is: why isn?t Floyd Mayweather on the damn list?
On January 6th, Mayweather, the WBC welterweight champion [and generally considered no worse than #2 of the pound-for-pound lists] will begin a 90-day jail sentence that will most likely result in only a 60 day jail sentence if he is a good boy while behind bars. As this author stated in a prior article, if Floyd gets out of jail in early March, he could go into training camp in April sometime and the mega-fight that the whole world has been waiting for could easily happen in late June which isn?t far from when Pacquiao would be fighting next anyway Bob!
I have been critical of Mayweather for not being keen on fighting certain opponents (including Manny) throughout his career, and up until recently he hasn?t been keen on facing Manny, but it?s clear that he has warmed up to the idea after seeing Pacquiao struggle with Lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez, a fighter Mayweather easily defeated off a near two year layoff. I now have to be fair and criticize Arum for being unwilling to wait two months and resume negotiations with Floyd rather than risk Manny losing to one of the excellent fighters on the short list he will be presenting Pacquiao with.
