By Chris Williams: We just saw how badly Manny Pacquiao looked in losing to Tim Bradley recently in a 12 round decision. That loss is really a shot across the bow in showing how badly the Filipino star’s game has slipped from his prime form of 2009. It’s like night and day when you compare how Pacquiao looked back then compared to now.

If Bob Arum wants to keep his cash cow bringing in the green stuff for another three years, Arum is going to have to be a lot more selective in the types of opponents he puts him in with. He can no longer match up against the stars in the division like Miguel Cotto and Tim Bradley. Instead, Arum is going to have to go easy with Pacquiao just like he did with Cotto after he got the stuffing beaten out of him by Antonio Margarito and was no longer looking great.

Below are the fighters that Arum needs to keep Pacquiao away from if he wants to get as much time and paydays out of him as possible:

Juan Manuel Marquez
Tim Bradley
Miguel Cotto
Floyd Mayweather Jr
Kell Brook
Sergio Martinez
Andre Berto
Devon Alexander

Here are the safe fights for Pacquiao to be put in with:

Mike Jones
Brandon Rios
Paulie Malignaggi
Amir Khan
Josesito Lopez
Danny Garcia

Arum is lucky to have Rios and Jones in his own Top Rank stable. That’ll make things easier in setting up a nice easy in house Top Rank fight for Pacquiao. I’ve included some light welterweights among the safe fight list because I think in order for Pacquiao to make it another three years, he’s going to have to pool from a division below him from time to time to keep the gravy train streaming. We’ve seen some of that with another one of Arum’s Top Rank stable fighters Nonito Donaire. He’s fought smaller guys from a division below him a number of times rather than guys his own size. It’s obviously helped him.