Freddie Roach declared that there are only three fighters who merit a crack at Manny Pacquiao?s pound-for-pound title.
“(Miguel) Cotto, Floyd (Mayweather Jr.) or (Shane) Mosley,” Roach told ESPN2 over the weekend.
Pacquiao is penciled to return on Oct. 17 although the choice of opponent, and even the venue, have yet to be decided by his promotional outfit Top Rank pending the results of two major fights scheduled on June 13 in New York and July 18 in Las Vegas.
Pacquiao hasn?t made up his mind although Mayweather, who retired unbeaten and top of his game in 2008, is tops on his list.
Puerto Rican Cotto faces Joshua Clottey of Ghana on June 13 at Madison Square Garden, while Mayweather meets Juan Manuel Marquez of Mexico on July 18 at the MGM Grand.
“I think it will be one of those three, and really it will probably come down to who is the easiest to deal with at the negotiating table. All three of them are good fights, and I?d like to see us fight either one of them at a catch weight of 143 to 144 lbs. My guy is the champion at 140 lbs and all of those guys are welterweights so I?d like to see a catch weight to even the playing field a little bit,” said Roach.
Pacquiao is coming off a second-round knockout of Ricky Hatton of England, the top dog in the 140-lb division at the time of the fight.
Cotto is under Top Rank like Pacquiao, while Mayweather promotes himself and Mosley is a talent of Golden Boy Promotions (GBP).
It appears that Cotto has the inside track provided he gets past Clottey since he and Pacquiao have the same promoter in Bob Arum.
Getting Mayweather to agree to get the smaller portion of the pie could spoil plans for him to square off with Pacquiao since the Filipino will insist that he should get the bigger share.
