Manny Pacquiao shared a Tuesday night dinner with his promoter, Bob Arum, and was given a list of three opponents to consider for a Nov. 10 fight in Las Vegas, the promoter said Wednesday.
Pacquiao will choose from a rematch against Palm Springs’ Timothy Bradley, who edged Pacquiao in a controversial split decision June 9; a fourth fight against Juan Manuel Marquez; and a rematch against former super-welterweight world champion Miguel Cotto.
Arum said Pacquiao will consider the choices while vacationing in Israel and France, then reconvene with Arum to make a final decision sometime in the middle of July.
A long-awaited bout against Floyd Mayweather Jr. “cannot happen” by Nov. 10, Arum said, saying the date was “too soon” after Mayweather’s expected August release from a Nevada jail where he’s serving time in a domestic violence case.
Arum also said that Pacquiao’s comment to an Associated Press reporter in Manila last week that he would fight Bradley was “premature … he still has to think about all this.”
Marquez and his promoter are pushing for a fourth bout wth Pacquiao after the fighters’ third meeting in November was an extension of two prior close bouts — a 2004 draw and a 2008 split decision won by Pacquiao.
Cotto was knocked out by Pacquiao in the 12th round of a 2009 bout, but the popular Puerto Rican has resurrected his career since, including a strong showing in May in a decision loss to Mayweather.
“I’ve always been impressed with Cotto by what he brings to the table as a fighter and his large Puerto Rico audience,” Arum said.
Pacquiao, however, is expected to choose the unbeaten Bradley, who won their bout this month by split-decision with two judges scoring the fight seven rounds to five in his favor while many others saw it differently, as a convincing Pacquiao triumph.
