By Manuel Perez: Since it appears that Manny Pacquiao will never fight Shane Mosley for some reason that only Manny and perhaps Freddie Roach know the reason, why isn’t Pacquiao and his promotional team considering welterweight Paul Williams (37-1, 27 KOs) as an opponent for August instead of fighters like Edwin Valero or Miguel Cotto?

Of the names mentioned for Pacquiao’s next fight or the one beyond that, Williams’ name has been strangely absent from the mix. Could it be that Williams is too dangerous for a fighter like Pacquiao to fight, is that it?

I don’t know about you, but if Williams isn’t being considered as an option for Pacquiao then Manny might as well give up his pound for pound #1 status and hand it to Williams, because he’s not kidding anyone by side stepping around him.

Say what you want about Williams being taller than Pacquiao, he’s still a welterweight and the last time I checked, Pacquiao was going after welterweights like Cotto and Floyd Mayweather Jr. Williams is arguably the best welterweight in the division and even Mayweather doesn’t seem the slightest bit interested in fighting him. But for all the people who think that Pacquiao is the best fighter in the world, then how come he isn’t trying to fight Paul Williams?

I’ll tell you why. Because if Pacquiao ever stepped foot in the same ring with Williams, Manny would in all likelihood would be battered around the ring like a rag muffin and literally toyed with by Williams. It’s so weird that everyone talks about how a fight between Mayweather and Pacquiao will determine who the best fighter in boxing is, but that’s a joke if you ask me.

It’s like a game of pretend. The only thing that a fight like that will prove is that the winner of that bout will be the number #2 fighter in the welterweight and wills that way until they get the courage to fight Williams. And you know what?

They won’t. I think it would be fair to say that the closest that Pacquiao will ever get to fighting Williams is if he gets ringside seat to watch one of his fights in the future, because he surely won’t be trying to fight him.

I’d like to see it, though, and would have a lot of respect for Pacquiao if he would ignore fights with Cotto, Valero, Mosley and Mayweather, and proceed straight into a fight with Williams. That would show me that Pacquiao was at least courageous enough to get in the ring so he could take his beating like a man.

But by looking towards lesser fighters, it just looks like Pacquiao is a cherry picker no different from a lot fighters. Williams is true class, unafraid to fight anyone at any weight and beat them. Now that is the fighter that should be the pound for pound number #1 fighter now Pacquiao, who was given a gift decision over Juan Manuel Marquez, and beat two shot fighters in Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton.