GENERAL SANTOS CITY – Whatever happens in the elections, Manny Pacquiao will soon have to decide whom he’d like to face in his next fight.
“In a week or two, he has to make the decision so we can start talking to the other camp,” said his promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank the other day.
Arum said Pacquiao can choose from among super-featherweights Joan Guzman of the Dominican Republic, Edwin Valero of Venezuela, and Mexicans Marco Antonio Barrera or Humberto Soto.
The WBC champion, Juan Manuel Marquez, is asking for the moon, according to Arum, and is actually at the bottom of the list despite a WBC call for a rematch between Pacquiao and the stubborn Mexican Sept. 17.
“Joan Guzman is okay with me. But I think it’s still Barrera or Marquez,” said Pacquiao.
But Pacquiao said he will not fight earlier than October, and that he’d need three months to get back in shape.
Still, he has to decide soon. And once he does, the hard part might come in.
Pacquiao’s former manager, Shelly Finkel, said it would be quite difficult to find a good fight for the Filipino because of a number of factors, particularly the ongoing court case between Top Rank and Golden Boy Promotions.
“Manny will have a hard time landing a big-money fight this year. I don’t think he can get Guzman or Valero or Barrera,” Wakee Salud said, quoting Finkel who had a phone conversation with Pacquiao’s adviser the other night.
Guzman and Barrera both have ties with Golden Boy while Valero is being promoted by the father of Oscar dela Hoya, the owner of the GBP. Soto is with Top Rank and is set to face Bobby Pacquiao on June 9 in New York.
Top Rank offered Barrera $5 million to face Pacquiao earlier this year. But Golden Boy refused, and instead pitted the then champion against a stablemate in Marquez, and Barrera made much less.
Arum said it’s a pity fight fans are denied good fights because of the feud between Top Rank and GBP, which both claim to be the rightful promoter of Pacquiao.
Arum is still hoping he and dela Hoya can sit down and talk.
“Why not? (Promoter) Don King and I had bitter, bitter battles in the past. They were horrible battles – name-calling and everything. But when he had a fighter, and I had a fighter, we staged the fight.
“We gave the fans the fight that they wanted. It was criminal for them to pit Barrera against Marquez. I don’t understand it with Golden Boy. If it’s not for Oscar’s fights, they’d be out of business. GBP makes money with Oscar’s fights, and not the others that they promote,” Arum said.
Meanwhile, Golden Boy Promotions yesterday announced that WBC super featherweight champion Marquez will face former champion Barrera in a title rematch on Sept. 15 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
