By Chris Williams: As much as boxing fans would like to see WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao (51-3-2, 38 KO’s) fight undefeated Floyd Mayweather (41-0, 25 KO’s) next, it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen. Pacquiao’s promoter, Bob Arum of Top Rank, says he’s not going to be giving any concessions to Mayweather in terms of blood testing, according to news from Insidesports.ph> Instead of agreeing to have the blood testing for a potential Mayweather-Pacquiao bout to stop at 14 days, like Mayweather wants, Arum says that the testing will stop at 24 days.

This is what sank the last negotiations between Mayweather and Pacquiao. Mayweather wanted the testing to go until 14 days before the fight, but Pacquiao wanted a 24 day cutoff. By sticking with what didn’t work last time, Arum is pretty much saying the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight won’t happen. But never fear, Arum has a couple of backup plans for Pacquiao if Mayweather doesn’t cave in and agree to the 24 days that Arum and Pacquiao want.

With the Mayweather fight off the table, Arum will be looking to match Pacquiao up with other fighters from his own Top Rank stable, starting with Antonio Margarito. If that fight doesn’t take place, then Arum will be looking to match Pacquiao in a rematch against Miguel Cotto, provided that Cotto beats WBA light middleweight champion Yuri Foreman next month in their title fight on June 5th at Yankee Stadium. With the WBA title in Cotto’s possession, Arum wants to match Pacquiao up against Cotto again for the WBA strap at a catch weight of 150, instead of at the maximum weight of 154 for the division.

This would be Pacquiao’s second fight for a title which involves a catch weight. Pacquiao previously defeated Cotto for his WBO welterweight title at a catch weight. It’s not exactly interesting for me to see Pacquiao fighting for another title at a catch weight. It seems to taint the win in my eyes, because if Pacquiao can’t fight at the full weight, and needs a handicap, then what’s the point? Additionally, I can’t see where the interest is in putting Pacquiao back in with Cotto. Pacquiao already totally dominated Cotto last year in a 12th round stoppage win in November.

The fight wasn’t competitive and not really interesting to watch because Cotto started running after the first four rounds and was in survival mode for the most part until getting taken out in the 12th. I know Pacquiao is looking to win another strap so that he can add an 8th world title to his possession, but can’t they do it against a different fighter? This is like going over old ground. Why fight the same guy again? Is it because he’s a Top Rank fighter? Why not fight WBC light middleweight champion Sergio Martinez instead? That guy is considered to be the best in the division.

That’s the fighter Arum should be putting Pacquiao in with, not Cotto. Of course, Martinez isn’t a Top Rank fighter, but he is thought to be the best in the division. I hate the idea of Pacquiao being put in with one Top Rank fighter after another. After awhile, it seems to me like Pacquiao is fighting guys from a separate isolated boxing club. In his last two fights, Pacquiao has fought Cotto and Joshua Clottey, both Top Rank fighters. Margarito is also a Top Rank fighter. I think Margarito and Cotto are great fighters, but I would like to see those guys pick up some wins. Margarito was beaten in his last fight and is still doesn’t have a license to box in the United States.

I don’t know whether he will even get it back soon, so if Pacquiao ends up fighting him, it might have to take place in Mexico and not the United States. I wouldn’t mind seeing Pacquiao fight Margarito if Antonio was able to pick up three or four significant wins over top fighters. But I wouldn’t want to see Pacquiao fight Margarito off of a victory over his next opponent Roberto Garcia, who Margarito fights this weekend on May 8th. If Pacquiao is fighting Margarito next, it’s hard for me to get interested in that fight at all, because I’ll see it as a move to rebuild Margarito’s image. I don’t see how the fight helps Pacquiao. He needs to be fighting guys like Mayweather, Andre Berto, Paul Williams or Sergio Martinez. Those are all fighters that would really help Pacquiao’s legacy.

I can’t see a rematch with Cotto doing much. That is not even slightly interesting to me. I also wouldn’t want to see Pacquiao fight Yuri Foreman either, even if he beats Cotto. I think that would be a boring fight, because Foreman is a hit and run fighter. If you think the Pacquiao vs. Clottey fight was boring, just watch what would happen if Pacquiao was matched against a runner like Foreman. Arum thinks that boxing fans would like to see Pacquiao fight Cotto again. I don’t. Maybe the casual boxing fans would.

I guess if you can get 1 million pay per view buys from Pacquiao-Clottey, you could probably get about as much for a needless rematch between Pacquiao and Cotto. I just don’t know how you would advertise it. It was too one-sided to make people think that a rematch would be any different. I wonder if Arum has another fighters in his stable that he could match Pacquiao up with instead of Cotto and Margarito, because I don’t like either of those options for him. Cotto has been stopped in two out of his last four fights, so why put him in with Pacquiao? Don’t you think it would be better to see if Cotto has anything left by putting him in with some good welterweights?

As for not making any concessions for a fight with Mayweather, I wonder if Arum wants Pacquiao to fight Mayweather at all. By not agreeing to 14 days for blood testing, the chances of putting together a fight with Mayweather are almost nonexistent. I can see why Arum wouldn’t want Pacquiao to fight Mayweather. Look at it this way: If Pacquiao fights Mayweather and gets totally dominated the same way Mayweather’s last two opponents have Juan Manuel Marquez and Shane Mosley, Pacquiao’s popularity would likely drop dramatically.

This would cause smaller paydays and the gravy train would slow down. It wouldn’t grind to a halt, because Pacquiao would continue to be a really popular fighter, but it would definitely slow down. But by not fighting Mayweather, Pacquiao can continue to make big money fighting other fighters from Arum’s stable, beating them all and making good money every time out. It could go a long time like this. At some point, it would probably be incredibly boring to see Pacquiao fight these small group of fighters over and over again, but I can see it being decent – not great – PPV seller each time out.