By Chris Williams: World Boxing Organization welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao (51-3-2, 38 KO’s) could be facing Antonio Margarito (37-6, 27 KO’s) in either September or November depending on how Pacquiao does in his congressional election next month. Either way, it looks as if Top Rank will be putting Pacquiao next. According to news from the Record, Pacquiao could face Margarito in November if he wins the political election in a fight that would take place in the United States in the Cowboys Stadium or possibly Mexico City.

If Pacquiao loses the election, he’ll fight in the U.S. It will depend on Margarito being able to get his boxing license back, though, because he won’t be able to fight in the U.S until he does.

The number #1 choice for Pacquiao to fight next, obviously, is the winner of the Shane Mosley vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight that takes place next month on May 1st. However, Pacquiao will have to wait for awhile to fight Mosley if he emerges as the winner because there’s a rematch clause in his contract with Mayweather, so he won’t be free to immediately fight Pacquiao.

Mayweather is the fight that Pacquiao and the rest of the world really want. It will be interesting to see if Mayweather has a change of mind about the random drug testing that he’s been asking for. He could surprise some people by dropping this requests altogether if he realizes that this is the only chance he has to fight Pacquiao.

But then again, there’s perhaps an even better chance that he’ll stick to his wishes for the drug testing to take place before he’ll fight Pacquiao. In that case, we’ll likely see Pacquiao move on to fight Margarito. That option isn’t an appealing one because few people in the United States want to see Pacquiao-Margarito right now. Margarito has a strong Mexican fan base, but he’s not particularly popular outside of that and he is coming off a loss in his last fight.

It seems like a fight that is two years late in being made. It would have been good back in 2008 after Margarito beat Miguel Cotto by an 11th round stoppage, but it’s not nearly as interesting now that Margarito has been beaten by Mosley in a 9th round TKO defeat last year in January and especially because of the incident with Margarito’s hand wraps having an illegal substance found inside of the wraps.

I wouldn’t mind seeing Pacquiao fight Margarito after all this stuff dies down and Margarito has six or seven fights under his belt against welterweight contenders, but not now. It seems like a poorly thought out idea. Like I said, this fight should have taken place a long time ago, but having it fought now seems very odd. I just don’t see the appeal in this fight.