By Jason Kim: World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao is open to fighting a rematch against Miguel Cotto, according to writer Nick Giongco at MB.com.ph. However, the rematch will likely take place at a catch weight for Cotto’s WBA junior middleweight title. Pacquiao already destroyed Cotto last year in a one-sided 12th round knockout victory in November. The fight was never competitive, as Cotto was just way out of his class, too slow and unable trade with Pacquiao without getting pounded on.

Although many boxing fans have no interest in watching Pacquiao go over old ground and fight a guy he just finished beating only eight months ago, it’s looking like Cotto will be promoter Bob Arum’s backup plan if the fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Pacquiao can’t be made. The problem is Arum doesn’t have many other options as far as finding other opponents in his Top Rank stable. Antonio Margarito, one of Arum’s best fighters, may not be able to get his boxing license back in the United States by November. Arum needs to start marketing Pacquiao’s next fight very soon, and he can’t do that if he’s unsure if Margarito will be able to get his license back or not.

In an article at Primera Hora, Pacquiao’s adviser Mike Koncz had this to say about a potential Pacquiao vs. Cotto rematch: “I spoke with Manny in the Philippines and he likes the idea of Cotto gunning for revenge if the fight against Mayweather doesn’t happen. Mayweather has until July 15th to study the documents and sign them. Mayweather needs Manny more than Manny needs Mayweather.” Cotto has a new trainer Emanuel Steward, who has tinkered with Cotto’s style of fighting and has him using his jab a lot more than he used to. Cotto looked good for the most part in defeating WBA junior middleweight champion Yuri Foreman by a 9th round stoppage last month on June 5th at Yankee Stadium.

There are thoughts that Steward can make enough changes in Cotto’s style to where he can now actually beat Pacquiao. However, boxing fans will still likely be wondering why Pacquiao is going backwards to fight a guy he just easily wiped out when there are a number of other fighters that Pacquiao could be fighting instead of Cotto. It’s an easy choice for Arum to make by putting Pacquiao back in with Cotto. It might be a fight that a lot of casual boxing fans would like to see, but fans of Cotto and Pacquiao will want to see it, at least enough to bring in around 1 million pay-per-view buys or slightly less. That’s a successful fight, and one that is even better when you’re promoting both of the fighters like Arum.

There will like be a catch weight involved if Pacquiao fights Cotto for his title, Koncz says. This was also the case when Pacquiao fought Cotto for his WBO welterweight title last November. Instead of fighting Cotto at the full 147 pound limit, Pacquiao, the challenger, was able to fight Cotto at a catch weight of 145. It’s debatable whether the catch weight had any effect on the outcome of the fight.

Cotto was over-matched even before the fight started, as he had taken a vicious pounding the year before by Antonio Margarito and had looked terrible in a close 12 round split decision win over Joshua Clottey in June of 2009. The catch weight probably didn’t help matters, but very likely it wouldn’t have mattered what weight the fight was fought at. Cotto was almost destined to lose.