By Manuel Perez: With Manny Pacquiao’s recent problems with WBO welterweight champion Miguel Cotto not wanting to put his title on the line for the fight, Pacquiao might want to look in another direction towards World Boxing Association welterweight champion Shane Mosley, who said that he’s more than willing to still fight Pacquiao. On Thursday night at the GBP fight at the Club Nokia, Mosley said “Tell them (Pacquiao, Bob Arum and Freddie Roach) what I offered is still on the table. The ball is in their court.”

Pacquiao is upset with Cotto, his scheduled opponent for November 14th, because Cotto won’t agree to put his WBO title on the line at the 145 pound catch weight that the two fighters agreed on. Although Cotto agreed to fight Pacquiao at the lower weight, nothing was ever said about the title being on the line. Technically, 145 falls in the range of the welterweight limit (141-147), but it’s two pounds below the upper limit.

This may not mean much for some people, especially fans of Pacquiao, but what it means for Cotto is that he would be forced to come in at 145 instead of 147. The extra weight that Cotto would have to trim off to squeeze into the 145 pound limit might hurt him and cause him to be weakened for the fight. Naturally, that’s the whole point of there being a catch weight.

In other words, so that Cotto will be weaker than he usually is Pacquiao would have a better chance at winning, because without a catch weight, Cotto would likely beat the stuffing out of Pacquiao. However, with the 145 limit, it effectively changes the whole dynamics of the welterweight title bout, changing the established rules so that Pacquiao could have things his way. it’s hardly fair from my view of things and I don’t blame Cotto for telling Pacquiao to forget fighting for a title unless the fight has the upper limit of 147.

If the fight with Cotto fails to proceed any further, I highly doubt that Pacquiao will fight Mosley, even though Mosley has already said that he’d fight Pacquiao at a 141 pound catch weight and take the much smaller 40% share of the revenue despite being the champion. I think it doesn’t matter what weight or what percentage of the revenue that Mosley is willing to give to Pacquiao, the Filipino won’t be fighting him.

The reason is Mosley is fighting well and recently defeated Antonio Margarito in a 9th round stoppage earlier this year. Pacquiao probably won’t want to risk fighting a talented fighter like Mosley. Pacquiao much prefers fighting Cotto, who was badly beaten last year and struggled in winning a controversial 12-round split decision over Joshua Clottey in his last fight.

The reasons for choosing Cotto are pretty obvious, although it does make Pacquiao look like a cherry picker to some boxing fans. I say it now, Pacquiao will not fight Mosley if the bout with Cotto doesn’t happen. Instead, look for Pacquiao to find someone else to fight. Who knows? Maybe Pacquiao can drag De La Hoya out of retirement for another bout.

Pacquiao really wants a chance winning a 7th world title for some reason. Although I don’t know what his preoccupation with winning a 7th world title is all about because I have no clue who most of the fighters are that Pacquiao defeated to pick up his other belts.

Pacquiao needs to give in to Cotto and fight at 147 instead of the 145 pound catch weight.