By Chris Williams: If you look at some of Manny Pacquiao’s opponents in recent ears they’ve quite frequently been guys that had been recently beaten by Floyd Mayweather Jr. in fairly lopsided fights. Mayweather defeated the following fighters in the past four years: Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton, Juan Manuel Marquez and Shane Mosley. Pacquiao then fought all of them and beat them after Mayweather had already done a job on them. It’s almost as if Pacquiao doesn’t face these guys until Mayweather shows him it’s safe for him to do so by beating the stuffing out of them first.

The only guys that Pacquiao didn’t fight that were previous Mayweather victims were fighters that were in the same Top Rank stable as him in Joshua Clottey, Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito. With Mayweather set to face WBC welterweight champion Victor Ortiz on September 17th, you have to wonder whether Pacquiao will then come in for sloppy seconds after Mayweather schools Ortiz for 12 rounds or ends up stopping him. I suppose there is a logic to all of this.

Maybe this is the only way that Pacquiao can show that he’s a better fighter than Mayweather by facing the guys that he already beat and depleted. Pacquiao then gets a guy that has often been through a bad beating by Mayweather, and is likely softened up for him. It’s kind of a waste if you ask me. Manny needs to be setting his own trail by taking on the best guys that are winning, not losing. Fighting Mayweather’s leftovers is such a waste. Why fight guys that Mayweather trounced and made look bad? How can you feel good about beating fighters that Mayweather totally dominated?

Pacquiao should have faced Ortiz first and should have taken on Mosley in 2009 when he was pushing hard for the fight and was still fighting at the top of his game. It wasn’t until Mayweather stood up and easily beat Mosley that Pacquiao then turned around and finally fought Mosley. I sure hope we don’t see Pacquiao facing Ortiz after Mayweather does a job on him. It’ll be comical by then, like a little brother following in Mayweather’s footsteps instead of setting his own trail and making his own legacy.