By Sean McDaniel: If you look at all the attention that has been made of World Boxing Council lightweight champion Edwin Valero (27-0, 27 KO’s) since his knockout win last week against Antonio DeMarco, it’s pretty clear that it’s only a matter of time before he’s matched up with WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao. What makes it even more likely to occur in the very near future is that both fighters are promoted by Top Rank Promotions, meaning that lining up a fight between them will be quite simple.

But what makes me believe that this fight will happen very soon in the future is because Pacquiao doesn’t have many more fights left in him before he retires and goes into politics. Pacquiao has a fight coming up next month on March 13th against Joshua Clottey, and after that a possible bout against Floyd Mayweather, if the two can work out a deal on the random blood testing for the fight.

I have a feeling with as much money that they both stand to make in the fight, they will probably have little problems negotiating the fight next time around and fix the problem that was their sticking point during the first go around with the negotiations. But after that, there’s really no one else for Pacquiao. Shane Mosley will have likely been beaten already by Mayweather, and there’s really no one else to fight at welterweight beyond Mayweather and Mosley.

I know Bob Arum would like to set up a match with Antonio Margarito and Pacquiao, but I don’t see that happening. More than likely, I’m thinking that Top Rank will put Valero in the fast lane for a fight against Pacquiao. I’m sure they’d like to build up Valero’s name more before putting him in with Pacquiao, but with Manny likely to be hanging up the gloves shortly, Arum doesn’t have a lot of time to build up Valero’s status in the U.S. like he would probably want to do.

My guess is that Top Rank and Arum will match Valero up with Humberto Soto next. Soto is a Top Rank fighter, so this helps them out at the same time it gives Soto and Valero a fight to display their talent. Soto is a great fighter, but he doesn’t have the kind of power that Valero possesses. I see Valero pinning Soto against the ropes and battering him into submission over six or seven rounds.

Following that fight, we will likely see a long build up for a fight between Valero and Pacquiao for early 2011. This will be a huge fight, because it will draw in a lot of the Hispanic fans from the U.S. and South America who will be tuning in to see it. It might not do as well as Mayweather-Pacquiao, but I can see it doing better than Pacquiao’s fights against Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto. I give Valero a good chance to beat Pacquiao. He’s got the skills, the power and punches from the southpaw stance like Pacquiao.