By Chris Williams: On November 20th, Paul Williams (39-1, 27 KO’s) and World Boxing Council middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (45-2-2, 24 KO’s) will be going at it for Martinez’s WBC title. A week earlier, Manny Pacquiao will be fighting for his 8th world title against Antonio Margarito for the vacant WBC junior middleweight title at the Cowboys Stadium. Since few people think Pacquiao is going to be satisfied with winning his 8th world title, there’s an excellent chance that Pacquiao is going to get greedy and try to collect an unheard of 9th world title in as many divisions.

The question is whether Pacquiao will opt to take on the Martinez-Williams winner or will Pacquiao and his promoter Bob Arum see Williams and/or Martinez too dangerous and will thus avoid him. My guess is Pacquiao will then go after paper champion IBF middleweight champion Sebastian Sylvester rather than Williams, Martinez or WBO middleweight champion Dmitriy Pirog.

In the past, Pacquiao has opted to take on the weaker champions in many cases rather than taking on the guy perceived to be the best fighter in the division. Pacquiao did this when fighting Miguel Cotto for his WBO title rather than WBA welterweight champion Shane Mosley. Pacquiao also did this when fighting WBC lightweight champion David Diaz rather than Nate Campbell. And now Pacquiao is taking on Margarito for the vacant WBC junior middleweight title rather than WBO junior middleweight title holder Sergeii Dzinziruk, who is clearly the best of the current champions in the division.

Will Pacquiao dare to fight Paul Williams or Sergio Martinez? I wish he would but I think he won’t want to risk a beating, and Arum will say no to that fight because it’s not one that Pacquiao can 100% win. There’s an excellent chance Pacquiao would lose the fight. However, against Sylvester or WBA middleweight champion Felix Sturm, Pacquiao would have a much better chance of beating them, even if neither of them are popular in the United States and neither are considered to be the best in the division.

Pacquiao would have another title, but it would be similar to his win over Margarito, a paper title. I hope Pacquiao doesn’t fight Sturm or Sylvester for their titles, but I’m pretty sure either of those two will get picked by Pacquiao and Arum. He might as well just forget collecting another title if he fights either of those guys, but then again I think it’s a total waste of time for Pacquiao to be fighting Margarito, when Margarito has only had one fight at junior middleweight in the past six years and Pacquiao has had none.