NEXT to predicting the winner of a fight, the hardest to predict these days is Manny Pacquiao?s first foe for 2012.
Will it be Floyd Mayweather Jr. or Miguel Cotto? Lamont Peterson or Tim Bradley? Or will it be Juan Manuel Marquez again?
Mayweather is unbeaten in 42 fights, making him the most logical choice thus far to face Pacquiao because talks about it had been on heatedly the last three years or so.
The boxing world has never been so animated of it.
Cotto was the same Puerto Rican whom Pacquiao had thoroughly whipped in 2009 by a 12th-round TKO. A rematch might not appear that palatable ? but that?s only on the surface of things. For, any fight that Pacquiao decides to choose would almost always be a blockbuster. He is king of the hill, so to speak, and there?s no mistaking the fact he draws the crowds anytime, every time, he fights.
Peterson and Bradley are long shots simply because they seem distant from the profiles that should be fit to pit against the likes of a certified superstar like Pacquiao.
Any one of the two finally clinching a date with Pacquiao would be a surefire formula to gain world fame.
Win or lose against Pacquiao, a boxer like either Peterson or Bradley is almost assured of certified success, status-wise.
A nondescript facing Pacquiao is like seeing one grabbing a casting coup in a Hollywood film opposite a genuine star like, say, Rachel Weisz.
That?d be the scenario in either a Pacquiao-Bradley bout or a Pacquiao-Peterson fight.
And Marquez?
Well, with him against Pacquiao again, it will still keep the cash registers ringing, if only for its sentimental value effect.
A fourth fight between them will spell success at the gates once more as the entire Mexican populace are expected to materialize anew to resume their fanatical adulation for Marquez.
But again, the question: Who?ll be the lucky guy to duke it out with Pacquiao and, in the process, earn him an undreamed of fortune in the Year of the Dragon?
For all intents and purposes, the date has been set for Pacquiao?s return to the ring. Most likely, it?s going to be in late May or early June.
It seems obvious that Mayweather is always up front among the list of contenders, given that money-wise, revenue-wise, a Pacquiao-Mayweather fight would be a sure knockout at the tills.
But that possibility has presented more problems than solutions.
One, Mayweather is set to spend the first day of his 90-day jail term on June 1. That should pose training hitches, if not psychological blocks on Floyd. You need two months at least to prepare. Easy. But then, how about the mental mock of an approaching stint in prison beclouding Mayweather?s mind?
Two, Pacquiao has seemingly seen it right not to pick Mayweather for a May fight and, if reports are to be believed, he has chosen Cotto instead.
Three, dealing with Mayweather is as complex as the Corona case, if not the maze of an alleged Corona cache of properties. Mayweather has a trainer, yes, but not a manager, or even a promoter.
As Bob Arum, Pacquiao?s American promoter said, ?It is almost impossible to ink a contract with Mayweather because he refuses to have a manager.?
So, to those still clutching to the belief that a Pacquiao-Maywether fight will ensue before June this year, my piece of counsel?
Quit the crap.
If you can?t, I wish you luck.
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FINAL FLIP. The Olympics of Cockfighting finally starts today at the Cubao Big Dome. It should be a real slam bang affair up to Jan. 22 as more than 300 participants from all over the world are entered. Only in the Philippines will one see such a ?slasher? event of this magnitude?Birthday greetings to Senen ?Bebot? Glorioso and Angie T. Castillo. Mabuhay!…Happy celebration for lovely couple Ramon and May Uy of Bacolod. Cheers!
