By Chris Williams: Bob Arum really knows how to pick them. His latest find for an opponent for his number #1 gravy train fighter Manny Pacquiao is 39-year-old Shane Mosley, who in his last two fights, has a record of zero wins, one loss and one draw. And yet Mosley was picked out of handful of three possible opponents to get a shot against Pacquiao in what will be an expensive pay-per-view card on May 7th at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Mosley was beaten by Floyd Mayweather Jr in May of this year, and then got what many people consider a gift 12 round draw against Sergio Mora in his last fight in September. I guess that was good enough for Arum to select Mosley over the unbeaten WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto (27-0, 21 KO’s) and WBA/WBO lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez. Both of those fighters are fighting well, and don’t look completely shot like Mosley.

But perhaps that’s they weren’t selected. Berto reportedly asked for a little over $3 million for the Pacquiao fight, whereas Mosley is going to get $5 million. So it’s not like Berto was asking too much money. I could understand Pacquiao wanting to get an easy fight with Mosley if Pacquiao had been facing better fighters recently, but he’s had two soft opponents in a row with Joshua Clottey and Antonio Margarito. Isn’t it time that he start being matched up against some good fighters that can still fight instead of shot has beens?

I’d like to think that Arum wants to put Pacquiao in with the very best fighters, and not just ones that will make him and Pacquiao money. It’s not interesting to see Pacquiao matched up against guys that you know he can beat.

The sad thing is we’re likely going to see Pacquiao going back around and facing Miguel Cotto again once he gets finished beating Mosley up. I don’t see a fight between Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr happening in 2011. As such, Cotto is probably going to be trotted out for a needless rematch against Pacquiao, even if Cotto gets pummeled by Margarito and Ricard Mayorga next year. I can still see that being ignored by Arum and Cotto being put in with Pacquiao for a fight that few – aside from Pacquiao’s loyal fans – want to see.