By Dallan o’ Donnell: Top rank promoter Bob Arum has drawn up his list of candidates for pound for pound king Manny Pacquaio to fight next. The list includes Shane Mosley, Andre Berto and a long time foe of Manny’s Juan Manuel Marquez whom he has already fought twice drawing the first and narrowly beating him by split decision in their rematch. This shortlist is more than disappointing. Sergio Martinez was not included despite speculation that both men would have fought one another.

Another blow for boxing fans is the exemption of unbeaten Floyd Mayweather Jr with Arum and Richard Schaefer (CEO of Golden boy promotions) citing Mayweather’s legal issues as the main stumbling block. Although we can count ourselves lucky to see Manny in the ring again, what we don’t want is a one sided humiliation of another fighter. We want someone who could actually last the pace with Pacquaio, keep him busy for 12 rounds, cause him problems and even have a chance of beating him.

Shane Mosley would not be capable of this. He is past his best and should be contemplating retirement so he can leave boxing with his head held high. Then we have Andre Berto, a decent fighter but not in the same class as Pacquaio. Arum has played down Marquez saying in an article at Yahoo Sports News, “The casual sports fan just doesn’t know Marquez, they can’t tell the difference between him and Juan Manuel Lopez.”

He went on to say that the “Casual sport fan” does know Mosley as he has fought De La Hoya twice and fought Mayweather. Arum went on to completely rule out Sergio Martinez despite Martinez being willing to come down to 154. It’s not about the weight at the weigh in, Arum added. Referring to the fact that Martinez could weigh 30 pounds more than Manny come fight night.