By Chris Williams: Manny Pacquiao met with Bob Arum today in the Philippines and made a decision about who he’ll be fighting next in late May or early June.
Arum and Pacquiao haven’t spilled the beans yet as to who it will be but it’s either Arum’s gang of four – Miguel Cotto, Juan Manuel Marquez, Timothy Bradley and Lamont Peterson – or Floyd Mayweather Jr.
If Pacquiao picks one of the four fighters that Arum wants him to fight of the four then it’s pretty clear that Arum likely talked Pacquiao into facing one of them rather than the arguably much more dangerous Mayweather.
It’s not that Mayweather is a threat to knock Pacquiao out, because Pacquiao probably could get through a fight against Mayweather still on his feet. Mayweather is dangerous is because he’s so much better than Pacquiao in terms of skills and would probably win every round in a 12 round fight against him. A loss like that for Pacquiao could be disastrous to Arum because he may have a hard time selling his fights on pay per view after a loss to Mayweather.
Would the average fan still want to pay to see Pacquiao after Mayweather exposes him? I have my doubts.
I really don’t think Arum had to do much arm twisting to get Pacquiao to pick one of his gang of four because all he would have to do is point out the obvious about what could happen with Pacquiao’s future PPV fights if Mayweather whips him. I think Pacquiao will gladly accept whichever fighter Arum wants him to. Arum probably picked Cotto or Timothy Bradley.
Both of them are Top Rank fighters and that makes things easier for Arum. I see Bradley getting the pick because he would likely be willing to accept smaller money than Cotto, and that means more money for Pacquiao.
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