The Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather saga is still playing out. Some sources doubt the fight will ever happen now, others are sure it will still be resolved. Manny and his team are also apparently looking into suing Golden Boy and are looking at other opponents for March 13th.
Some of Pacquiao’s biggest potential opponents are already out because of the fact that they are promoted by Golden Boy. The Oscar De La Hoya owned promotion company has said it would seek extra testing for any boxer of theirs to face Pacquiao. Presumably this includes Shane Mosley, who has been vocal about facing Pac-man for some time now. What Mosley thinks about this issue isn’t known, but if he’s binded to a Golden Boy contract for the foreseeable future he might not have much choice.
Yuri Foreman (AP Photo)
The most talked about opponent for Pacquiao now is Top Rank promoted WBA super welterweight champ Yuri Foreman. The aspiring Rabbi is thought of by most as an easy match up for Manny, given he doesn’t have a big punch and isn’t at a massive advantage physically.
Standing about 5,11 is a fair bit bigger than Manny, but he isn’t Paul Williams big. Similarly he only has 8 knockouts from 29 fights, which should also work in Manny’s favor.
Promotionally the fight should be fairly easy as well because both are promoted by Bob Arum and Top Rank. Not only that but beating Yuri would gain Manny an 8th title at an 8th weight, furthering his own record.
Foreman himself is also open to a fight with Pacquiao, and is available for the fight date, which Pacquiao seems adamant on sticking with whoever his opponent turns out to be.
Timothy Bradley (AP Photo)
The other two names being floated around at the moment are Paulie Malignaggi and Timothy Bradley. Talks have already began with Malignaggi apparently, although no doubt about it, this is a big step down in competition for Pacquiao. Malignaggi has been beaten by the likes of Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto in the past, both of whom Pacquiao has already beaten.
The Malignaggi fight would have the added benefit of being retribution for Manny though, because Paulie has accused him of taking steroids in the past.
Timothy Bradley is a much easier sell to the casual fans though, being an unbeaten champion and having a physical grinding style which Manny would have to work to overcome. Other than Bradley or Paulie though, there isn’t much for Manny on the light welterweight landscape past this bout. As well as which, his stablemate Amir Khan still needs some big name opponents in the near future, and if Manny unifies most of the belts, he will struggle to get them.
Even at welterweight there aren’t too many matches for Manny in the immediate future. Floyd Mayweather and Shane Mosley are seemingly off limits due to being promoted by Golden Boy. Cotto has been beaten, and Clottey by Cotto. Andre Berto will likely lose to Mosley in January, and coming off a loss would be difficult to market. Outside the top ranked fighters, there aren’t really any other opponents who have either the name recognition or records to make sense for Manny at the moment.
