By Chris Williams: Instead of fighting a needless rematch against Miguel Cotto in 2011, Manny Pacquiao needs to go after the winner of the lightweight clash between Juan Manuel Marquez vs. Juan Diaz, a fight which will be taking place this Saturday night at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Most boxing fans feel that Marquez should easily win the fight against Diaz, and that will put Marquez in a good position for a third fight with Pacquiao, if the Filipino fighter will agree to take it. He probably won’t, though.

It’s understandable if he and his promoter are able to setup a fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. in early 2011. Obviously, that’s the fight that all boxing fans want to see. But if that fight doesn’t get made, I see no reason why Arum shouldn’t then go ahead and match Pacquiao up against Marquez again for a third fight rather than putting him in with Cotto for a second time.

The problem with Arum matching Pacquiao up with Marquez for a third fight is that Marquez doesn’t fight for Top Rank, the promoter for Pacquiao, and that could be enough to keep the fight from being made. It will be too disappointing if Pacquiao and Marquez don’t end up fighting for a third time, because many boxing fans felt that Marquez should have won both of his previous fights against Pacquiao.

I feel that way too about it. Marquez seemed to have Pacquiao’s number in both of his fights with him, and with the exception of a few knockdowns in the first fight and another knockdown in the 2nd bout, Marquez dominated most of the action against Pacquiao. However, it’s really doubtful that Arum will agree to match Pacquiao up against Marquez again. I think those two fighters will never be matched up again.

If Arum can’t set up a fight against Mayweather in early 2011, he will most definitely put Pacquiao in with Cotto in a pointless rematch so that it can make a little bit of money – probably along the same lines as the Pacquiao bout against Joshua Clottey. Then Arum will probably put Pacquiao in with another one of his Top Rank fighters Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. rather than Marquez.

Following that, I expect Pacquiao to be matched back up against Antonio Margarito again and then Cotto once more. By then, Pacquiao should be ready for retirement. If he continues to fight, my guess is Arum will have Pacquiao go back around the circle again for another fight with Chavez Jr., then Margarito, and then Cotto. The effect from this dull routine, I imagine, will cause Pacquiao’s pay per view numbers to dip into the low 400,000s due to boxing fans being sick of seeing him in one pointless rematch after another against fighters that fans don’t want to see Pacquiao fighting.