By Chris Williams: Manny Pacquiao’s loss to Tim Bradley last month showed pretty clearly the ravages of age that are starting to have serious affects on Pacquiao’s game. He’s not running around the ring like an energizer bunny like he used to, and has now become a plodder only capable of fighting hard for a tiny portion of every round.

Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum is keen on putting him back in with 39-year-old Juan Manuel Marquez for a fourth fight between them later on in the year. Arum likes that fight no doubt because of the good cash it can bring in compared to a rematch between Pacquiao and Tim Bradley. However, Arum won’t be doing the Filipino any favors by putting him back in with either Marquez or Bradley again, because Pacquiao is aging and will continue to struggle badly whenever Arum puts him in with someone with decent skills.

Pacquiao is 33 now, and he’ about to turn 34. For small fighters like Pacquiao that’s old. He’s not a heavyweight where 34 is considered young. There’s also the punishment that Pacquiao has absorbed in all of his fights. He’s won most of his bouts, but he’s soaked up a great deal of punishment to the head in his fights against Erik Morales, Marquez, Antonio Margarito, Joshua Clottey and Miguel Cotto. Those were fights that Pacquiao got hit a lot, and getting clobbered really ages a fighter.

Arum would be doing Pacquiao a big favor if he avoided Marquez and Bradley, and instead put Pacquiao back on a soft diet of stiffs. Arum could sign up some fringe contenders to his Top Rank stable and feet them to Pacquiao one after another like hors d’oeuvres. At least by doing that Arum will be able to prolong Pacquiao’s career a little while at the same time keeping the old in house Top Rank fights going. That would be a smart thing for Arum to do or he could simply cash out with a fight between Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. Pacquiao will lose that fight, but it won’t matter because of the huge cash the fight will generate.