By Dallan o’ Donnell: Pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao will not be back in the ring again until May of next year. Pacquiao was scheduled to fight at the MGM grand arena in April against Shane Mosley, Andre Berto or Juan Manuel Marquez, but congressional obligations have made an April date impossible to fulfill. Pacquiao likes to train for 8 weeks prior to a fight. The venue has not changed however and the fight has been confirmed for May 7th.

Bob Arum, Pacquiao’s promoter is currently holding meetings with Manny to decide on an opponent but his identity is still a mystery. Shane Mosley is favourite with Arum citing PPV numbers as the main reason that Mosley could be the man for the job. Arum has stated that he knows where Manny is headed by way of choosing an opponent but it would not be right for him to divulge on the details. Arum went on to say the decision lies with Manny on who he chooses and would not tell him to fight X if he wanted to fight Y. Arum has also said we should not read too much into the change of date and Marquez has not become favourite to fight Pacquiao.

May 7th coincides with Cinco de Mayo, a Mexican holiday commemorating a famous and unlikely Mexican victory over the French army. When asked about the Mayweather fight Arum said he has heard “Zero” from the Mayweather camp. “If Floyd was promotional minded he would come to Mannys birthday party on Friday and come out of the cake saying he’s ready to fight,” Arum stated in an article at the Los Angeles Times. I can’t see that happening however and it does look as if Mosley will be given the fight even though he looked very poor last time out against Sergio Mora, only managing a draw.