By Dave Lahr: I didn’t acknowledge Manny Pacquiao’s last fight against Antonio Margarito as being for any kind of title since the fight was held at a catch weight of 150 pounds against a fighter that had only fought once at junior middleweight in the past six years prior to the Pacquiao bout. The WBC sanctioned the fight which had the vacant junior middleweight title on the line. Pacquiao won the fight by a 12 round decision and along with it he captured his 8th world title.

I saw it as a phony paper title fight, and that was Pacquiao’s second title fight involving a catch weight. Since Pacquiao is into collecting these titles against guys like Margarito and Cotto at catch weights, how about Pacquiao going for a 9th world title against World Boxing Council (WBC) middleweight champion Sergio Martinez.

That guy is considered to be the best fighter in the middleweight division and isn’t a paper champion or someone that recently took a pounding. Would Pacquiao dare take on Martinez for a 9th world title or will Pacquiao, when and if he does decide on going after a 9th title, go after one of the weakest of the middleweight champions like IBF title holder Sebastian Sylvester. I’d like to think that Pacquiao would face the best fighter in Martinez or possibly the 2nd best in Dmitriy Pirog, but I just can’t see it. If Pacquiao does go after a 9th world title, I see him taking the path of least resistance by picking a safe bet like Sylvester.