By Chris Williams: Since capturing the World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight title last year against Miguel Cotto, Manny Pacquiao (52-3-2, 38 KOs) has defended the title once against Joshua Clottey in March of this year. On May 7th, Pacquiao will defend the title for a second time against 39-year-old Shane Mosley, who isn’t currently ranked in the top 15 by the WBO.

My question is when will Pacquiao be defending the title against his number #1 mandatory challenger Kell Brook (23-0, 16 KO’s)? Is Pacquiao avoiding Brook or is he hoping he can fight whoever he wants to until he’s finally stripped of the title by the WBO.

I think Pacquiao needs to defend the title against Brook because is ranked #1 and he’s been waiting awhile now for his shot. While some boxing fans will argue that Book hasn’t fought anyone, he’s beaten former #1 contender Michael Jennings by a recent stoppage. That’s enough for me for Brook to be worthy of getting a title shot. I think the WBO needs to strip Pacquiao of his WBO belt. If he’s not going to defend the title against Brook, then they need to take away from him and let Brook fight for it against number #3 ranked WBO challenger Mike Jones.

Brook has worked too hard to get to the position where he is today just to get ignored and passed over while Pacquiao beats old or washed up guys that don’t compare to him. Brook would probably give Pacquiao a much better fight than Mosley will at this point in Mosley’s career.

Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao
won 52 (KO 38) + lost 3 (KO 2) + drawn 2 =

23 (KO 16) + lost 0 (KO 0) + drawn