By Dan Ambrose: WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao has reportedly picked out, with the help of his close and trusted promoter Bob Arum, his next opponent for June, according to Philstar.com.

Arum isn’t saying who the lucky fighter is. Speculation is that Pacquiao will be fighting one of the four opponents that Arum himself chose for Pacquiao. Two of the names – Miguel Cotto and Juan Manuel Marquez – are fighters that will bring big money to a PPV with Pacquiao, but unfortunately he’s already fought both of them before and it’s not nearly as interesting as a new opponent would be.

Arum is giving a time line of late May or early June for Pacquiao’s next fight, which could give an indication that the Filipino star may have selected Mayweather as the guy he wants to fight next.

Arum told philstar.com “We got everything done in 30 minutes. Yes, he has made his choice but I’m not going to talk about it. Now I’m going back and let’s see if we can make what Manny wants to happen. We need to be sure everything is secure and that things are done the way they should be done.”

What Arum doesn’t say is that he had already been meeting Pacquiao for days to talk about an opponent, so it’s not as cut and dried as he says it was. Arum likely made it clear who he himself wants to see him fight and made a case for that fighter.

The world wants to see Pacquiao fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. and you have to imagine that Pacquiao was feeling that pressure when he met with Arum. Although the promoter is less affected by the pressure, because he’s not the one whose reputation is impacted if the Mayweather fight doesn’t happen, but Pacquiao most certainly is.

The pressure on Pacquiao is a lot more than it was in the past because boxing fans are fed up with the excuses the two fighters have been making for not getting in the ring. Mayweather sounds as if he’s absolutely ready to take the fight in May without conditions. Arum has listed a number of reasons why the fight can’t be made and most of the reasons seem to be poor obstacles that make him appear like he doesn’t want the fight to happen.