By Chris Williams: Manny Pacquiao’s skills have faded so much recently that if he listens to his promoter Bob Arum’s advice and faces Juan Manuel Marquez in his next fight in November, Pacquiao will very likely be finished off as a fighter.

What I’ve seen in Pacquiao in his last three fights is an old guy that’s at the tipping point in his career to where he’s ready to be finished off and put out of his misery by the next good fighter he faces.

Marquez should have received credit for a win over a slow and listless Pacquiao last November, and now Tim Bradley has officially beat the Filipino. Of the two fighters, I think Marquez is a lot better than Bradley, and much trouble for the aging Pacquiao as well.

I know Arum is kind of turned off towards a Pacquiao-Bradley rematch, but I think Arum needs to take that fight if he wants to keep his cash cow from taking another whipping from Marquez. It’ll be much worse than what Pacquiao has in store for him if he faces Bradley in a rematch.

Pacquiao has already said he wants the Bradley rematch, and he needs to keep going in that direction even if Arum presses hard for the Marquez fight. It’s pretty obvious why Arum wants the Marquez bout. It brings in a lot more green stuff than the Bradley fight, and there’s less static that Arum would have to continue to hear about the results from the Pacquiao-Bradley fight.

But putting Pacquiao back in with Marquez will be doing Pacquiao no favors because Marquez has a lot more left in the tank than the 33-year-old Pacquiao despite Marquez about to turn 39. People age differently and Marquez is very well preserved for someone nearing 40. It’s like his body has been frozen in suspended animation in his late 20s allowing him to still batter guys that he shouldn’t be able to beat at his ripe age.