By Dan Ambrose: Promoter Bob Arum will be flying to Manila in the Philippines next week along with Michael Koncz to meet with WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao to help him decide on who his next opponent will be in April or May. Arum has four names – Timothy Bradley, Miguel Cotto, Juan Manuel Marquez and Lamont Peterson – that he’s going to present to Pacquiao to let him decide on who will be the lucky fighter.

Pacquiao has become accustomed to receiving big money for his pay per view bouts, so in order to ensure that he keeps getting those big paychecks, Arum is likely going to let him know that Marquez and Cotto will being in the most money of the four fighters. Peterson and Bradley are still relatively unknown among casual boxing fans and it will be a big risk for Pacquiao and Arum to choose one of them.

Pacquiao would make good money even if his next fight only draws 600,000 buys, which is what it brought in when he fought the little known Joshua Clottey last year. But I’m sure Arum and Pacquiao want to avoid that happening when he’s become accustomed to drawing 1.3 to 1.4 million PPV buys. Cutting that in half probably isn’t something Arum and Pacquiao are interested in.

Arum told the Manila Bulletin “I haven’t talked to Manny and that will happen when I get there next week. He [Pacquiao] decides.”

I’m sure Pacquiao does ultimately decide but I’m also pretty sure that Arum gives Pacquiao a good picture of the money value that each fighter can potentially bring in for him. This is obviously why Pacquiao fought a shot – but well known – 40-year-old Shane Mosley last year rather than someone that could give him a good test like Andre Berto. It’s about money at this stage and that’s why there are a lot of mismatches because Pacquiao is being put in with well-known older fighters that are past their prime. They’re recognizable to the casual fan but they don’t have enough left in the tank to really be much of a risk to Pacquiao.

Pacquiao reportedly will be fighting only two times in 2012 – the first in April or May and the last on November – against two well known fighters. Floyd Mayweather Jr. is the one that Arum wants to face Pacquiao in November.