By Chris Williams: WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao and his promoter Bob Arum have taken some heat recently over the choice of opponent for Pacquiao’s next fight on May 7th at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Instead of facing a younger fighter that can actually still fight like say World Boxing Council middleweight champion Sergio Martinez or WBC welterweight champ Andre Berto, Arum selected 39-year-old Shane Mosley, who looks to be teetering on his last leg.

Mosley has looked nothing short of terrible in his last two fights. Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach wanted him to fight Juan Manuel Marquez next, but Arum won out by his choice of Mosley. However, there is something to look forward to in the future, as Roach, according to 8countnews, says that Pacquiao could face light welterweight Marcos Maidana (29-2, 27 KO’s) in the future. If true, this would be an excellent fight between two knockout punchers.

Maidana has a great chin and excellent power. He would certainly be a lot more interesting opponent than Mosley, Joshua Clottey and Antonio Margarito. I would prefer to see some new blood brought in to face Pacquiao than to see him beating up on Miguel Cotto again or whichever Top Rank guy that Arum has in his stable that he wants to trot out to have Pacquiao fight.

Those bouts might be good for Arum, but I can’t see how boxing is furthered by having Pacquiao annihilate faded stars or fighters that were never stars to begin with. At least with Maidana it would be a fighter that would be interesting to watch for a change rather than seeing Pacquiao slaughter someone like Margarito, Cotto, Clottey and Mosley.