By Chris Williams: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum still isn’t spilling the beans about who his fighter Manny Pacquiao will be facing in his next fight. Arum’s saying that Pacquiao will make the choice by the end of this week.

Earlier today, it was reported that 39-year-old Juan Manuel Marquez has been given an offer for a fight with Pacquiao. However, Arum is still looking at alternative options depending on who Manny choices.

If Pacquiao decides on not going with Miguel Cotto for his next fight, then Arum wants to pair the two rejected Top Rank stable fighters Marquez and Tim Bradley in a pay per view fight on November 10th in what would likely be an elimination bout to get a winner to face Pacquiao in 2013.

That doesn’t mean the loser won’t get to fight Pacquiao as well, because Arum almost certainly will get around to having Pacquiao fight all three guys – Cotto, Bradley and Marquez – again. That kind of goes without saying, though, because two of them are Top Rank stable fighters and the third is an ex-stable fighter on good terms with him.

Arum told RingTV “If it’s Cotto and Pacquiao, then Bradley and Marquez will fight each other…the fighters have agreed to that…Cotto may be reluctant to fight Manny…Cotto people will get back to me tomorrow or Friday.”

Wow! Looks like Arum is trying to go for the biggest PPV bout of the three potential guys to fight Pacquiao. Cotto brings more fans to the table than Bradley and Marquez. Arum might be licking his chops at the idea of Pacquiao getting a slightly bigger payday against him compared to Marquez. However, Arum and Pacquiao obviously either want Cotto to come all the way down to 147 lbs or meet him at a catchweight of 150 lbs to make the fight happen.

You got to imagine that if Cotto says not to either request the fight won’t happen. Pacquiao likely won’t be interested in stepping up and fighting Cotto at 154 lbs, even though Floyd Mayweather Jr. just finished doing that successfully last May. But it was a very tough fight for Mayweather, and I don’t see Pacquiao and Arum wanting to have to experience what it’s like to fight Cotto at full strength instead of a weakened version from having to drain down to 147 or 150. Arum obviously wants his cash cow Pacquiao to keep winning, and if he faces Cotto at 154, the chances are very high that Pacquiao will lose again.

Look for Cotto to say no to any request for him to melt down to 147 or 150. I can’t see him doing that when it would likely result in him being weakened enough for Pacquiao to win with a handicap for weight.