By Jason Kim: With Miguel Cotto already beaten, Antonio Margarito about to get his turn, Ricky Hatton, Joshua Clottey and Oscar De La Hoya all beaten by Manny Pacquiao, who is actually left besides Floyd Mayweather Jr. for Pacquiao to fight? Of course, Bob Arum will be putting Pacquiao back in with Cotto next year in a rematch that few boxing fans want to see, but who comes after that for Pacquiao? Will Arum let Pacquiao fight guys outside of Top Rank like Andre Berto, Timothy Bradley, James Kirkland, Sergio Martinez, Paul Williams or Amir Khan or will Arum just continue to keep Pacquiao fighting his table of fighters in Top Rank.
I don’t know how much longer boxing fans will be willing to pay to see Pacquiao fight guys like Clottey, Margarito and Clottey before they tire of it and start ignoring his fights. Arum needs to look for some new blood that boxing fans really care about seeing with Pacquiao. Mayweather is the fight, but once that happens – or doesn’t happen – where does Pacquiao go? Does he retire or just continue to trounce Arum’s fighters for the remainder of his career.
If Pacquiao is thinking about his legacy, instead of looking to win more and more titles, he needs to look at fighting some of the more challenging opponents like Martinez, Paul Williams, Kirkland, Bradley or even Khan. These are fighters that the boxing fans would love to see against Pacquiao instead of seeing needless rematches against Cotto or whoever else that Pacquiao has already beaten or will beat. I would hate to see a Cotto-Pacquiao rematch followed by a Pacquiao-Margarito rematch after he beats him this November.
It would be such a waste of Pacquiao’s remaining years of his career for him to be matched like this. Obviously, the thinking behind a rematch between Cotto and Pacquiao is money, since the fight would make decent money along the lines of Pacquiao’s fight against Clottey. But it’s not interesting to the fans when they’ve already seen the fight take place only last year. If Arum wants to put that rematch on, he should at least wait two or three years instead of one year where Cotto has been matched lightly against a fighter with a bad leg. I want to see Pacquiao fight some good fighters that are still at the top of their game, not ones that are fading and being positioned in weak divisions in order for them to get a paper title.
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