By Jason Kim: WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao should have a contract signed for a fight against two-time former welterweight champion Antonio Margarito by the end of the week. Right now, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is trying to work out the venue for the fight and is looking at whether to put the bout in the middle East or in Monterrey, Mexico.

The advantages of having the fight take place in the middle east country Abu Dhabi is that it Pacquiao won’t be taxed on his income for the fight and will reportedly be making his largest guarantee payday of his career. That alone makes Abu Dhabi hard to resist.

According to Philboxing.com, Michael Koncz, the personal adviser for Pacquiao, says that Abu Dhabia representatives will be assuming the risk for the fight, and it will be giving Pacquiao guaranteed purse. However, it’s unknown whether this would mean that the fight would be shown on tape delay for U.S audiences to see on pay per view. Also there’s the matter of fans of these two fighters. If the bout takes place in the Middle East, it’s doubtful that many of Pacquiao and Margarito’s loyal fans will be able to afford to make that long of a trip. If this doesn’t matter to Top Rank, Pacquiao and Margarito, then it looks like the fight will go ahead.

Margarito still hasn’t been confirmed as Pacquiao’s next opponent by Arum, but it’s looking like that’s going to be the case because he’s the one that they’re talking about, and not WBA junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto, who also fights for Top Rank. Pacquiao, if he does end up fighting Margarito, will be fighting for the vacant World Boxing Council light middleweight title.

The title was recently given up by Sergio Martinez. Pacquiao will now have a chance to fight for his 8th world title in as many divisions. The choice of Margarito as an opponent likely won’t be met with applause by boxing fans, because many of them still aren’t happy with him over the hand wrap incident involving Margarito’s fight with Shane Mosley last year. Margarito was given a year suspension by the California Athletic Commission after a plaster-like substance was found on Margarito’s hand wraps before his fight with Mosley.

As of now, Margarito still doesn’t have a boxing license to fight in the United States. This is the only reason why Arum is looking to put Pacquiao vs. Margarito outside of the U.S.