By Dave Lahr: In the latest boxing news, Bob Arum, the promoter for Manny Pacquiao, is saying that he’ll look to match Pacquiao up with either Antonio Margarito or Miguel Cotto if the fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. falls through. Cotto has the WBA junior middleweight belt and has already been beaten to a pulp by Pacquiao last year. However, Pacquiao is into collecting titles and with Cotto holding the WBA belt, a weight class that Pacquiao has never won a title, it would create a reason for Pacquiao to fight Cotto again. Arum’s number #1 choice would be for Pacquiao to fight Mayweather because that’s where the big money is and the real interest.
There probably isn’t much fan interest in watching Pacquiao destroy Cotto again just so Pacquiao win another title. But if the bout with Mayweather can’t be made, then the Cotto fight might be the best option for Arum to make for Pacquiao to get a good money fight before he retires. Margarito is a good fight as well, but there’s the question about whether he’ll be able to get his boxing license back in the United States. Margarito isn’t a really popular fighter with the casual boxing fans in the U.S. Margarito has a fan base among Mexican boxing fans but it’s hard to say whether it would be big enough to bring in more than the 700,000 Pacquiao’s recent bout with Joshua Clottey brought in.
Arum seems to have overestimated the popularity for that fight and the numbers were less than what many people had hoped for. The Margarito fight could fall in that area as well, as Margarito still hasn’t done much to redeem himself after being totally dominated by Shane Mosley last year. Margarito has fought once since then, beating Ricardo Garcia by a 10 round decision in a fight rather dull fight.
But Arum doesn’t really have a lot of options for huge fights for Pacquiao other than the Mayweather bout. If Pacquiao fights a needless rematch with Cotto, it might not do as good as it did last time, because fans have already seen Pacquiao thrash Cotto. Who would want to see Pacquiao fight Cotto again after watching the last fight? Cotto did beat one of Arum’s fighters last Saturday night in Yuri Foreman. However, with only one fight removed from his loss to Pacquiao last time, it’s difficult to shake the memory of Cotto being so soundly beaten by Pacquiao a year ago.
Neither Cotto nor Margarito are very exciting options for Pacquiao to fight. This is why it’s important for Arum to do whatever he can to make the fight with Mayweather happen for Pacquiao because the alternatives aren’t exactly appealing. For me, if the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight can’t take place, I’d much rather see Pacquiao go after WBC junior middleweight champion Sergio Martinez if Pacquiao was interested in fighting for an 8th world title rather than seeing Pacquiao destroy Cotto again.
Martinez is considered to be the best fighter in the junior middleweight division by far, and he hasn’t been beaten up previously by Pacquiao like Cotto has. Of course, Martinez doesn’t fight for Top Rank, and might actually beat Pacquiao, so I think in itself is enough to rule Martinez completely as a potential opponent for Pacquiao. I suppose that’s why Martinez isn’t being mentioned now by Arum.
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