There should be at least five names in Manny Pacquiao’s shortlist of possible opponents for his November ring return and one of the challengers in that list should be Marcos Maidana of Argentina. Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum and a good number of fight fans have dangled the names of Juan Manuel Marquez, Danny Garcia, Carlos Abregu, Amir Khan and Marcos Maidana as Pacquiao’s possible opponents. Earlier, there were talks of a possible clash between Cotto and Mexican boxing sensation Canelo Alvarez, who suffered his first career loss to Floyd Mayweather in a pay-per-view (PPV) fight that nearly broke the numbers of the De La Hoya-Mayweather fight in 2007. Alvarez is set to face Erislandy Lara on July 12 in a non-title light middleweight fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nev. Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach ? who also trains Cotto ? has stated earlier that the possibility of a rematch between Pacquiao and Cotto is remote at this time as he cannot be on both corners of the ring.
Arum said it is also unlikely that Alvarez will fight Cotto before the end of the year but he thinks the best time for the Cotto-Alvarez clash would be next year to coincide with the Cinco de Mayo weekend. Read more: From the shortlist, Marquez seems to be Arum’s first choice but the Mexican wants a $20 million purse and Arum is expected to reject it outright. Marquez got $6 million in his fourth fight against Pacquiao. In his recent fight against Mike Alvarado, he only got a guaranteed purse of $1.5 million. If Marquez opts out of the fifth fight with Pacquiao, Arum could tap either Carlos Abrego, a Top Rank fighter or Marcos Maidana, who last fought under Golden Boy Promotions (GBP). It would be easier for Arum to arrange the fight with Abregu, who, like Maidana is also from Argentina. But Maidana seems to be a better choice because of his spillover name recall from his recent fight against the popular Mayweather.
Also, Maidana is tailor-made for Pacquiao because of his forward fighting style similar to Ricky Hatton and Bambam Rios which suits Pacquiao’s own style. Maidana is an easy target for the speedy Filipino boxing star though he has to by wary of Maidana’s awesome punching power. Asked about the possibility of a clash with Pacquaio, Maidana said: ” It would be an attractive fight. Pacquiao is a very important fight and I am in the best phase of my career.” Still, Maidana needs to clarify his status with GBP following reports that he is under management contract with Mayweather’s adviser Al Haymon.
