By Chris Williams: Bob Arum reportedly gave Manny Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach a four-fighter list for Roach to pick from for Pacquiao’s next fight in early 2012. The list includes the names Lamont Peterson, Timothy Bradley, Juan Manuel Marquez and Miguel Cotto.

I don’t know if this is Arum’s custom to give Roach lists of fighters that he feels should face Pacquiao or if Roach is typically excluded from the selection process. My understanding is that Roach has nothing to do with the hand picking of opponents, as that I believe has always been done by Arum and he would then give the names or name to Pacquiao to agree or disagree on.

It’s nice that Roach has been included, but not sure how much weight his eventual pick will have if it runs counter to the guy that Arum wants to match Pacquiao up with.

Here’s what I see as likely picks from the most important to the least important:

#1. Miguel Cotto – He fights for Top Rank, has a large fan base and that means more money for Pacquiao and Arum.

#2. Timothy Bradley – He doesn’t have much of a fan base but he fights for Top Rank and it would be an in house fight where Arum doesn’t have to share promotional duties with another promoter. Bradley needs a big fight for him to increase his value Arum and the best way to do that is to throw Bradley in with Pacquiao. Bradley will lose, of course, because he can’t punch his way out of a wet paper bag, but if he doesn’t look too awful, he’ll be more popular for having been given the fight. Even if loses badly, Bradley will still be more valuable than he is now unless he does a quit job or gets destroyed in one round.

#3. Juan Manuel Marquez – A fight between Pacquiao and Marquez might even do better than a Pacquiao-Cotto fight. However, it’s not appealing because Marquez might actually be given the decision next time instead of getting jobbed. As such, Marquez is too risky and the extra money that he brings in isn’t worth the risk.

#4. Lamont Peterson – he’s not popular enough to fight Pacquiao and he’s a wild card because he gets stronger in the later rounds. He might actually win, so he’s out.

As for who I think Roach will pick, I think it’ll probably be Marquez because he made Pacquiao look so bad last November, and that reflects on Roach’s ability to train. Pacquiao fought like he had years ago when everyone was calling him crude and amateurish. Roach obviously would like to erase the criticism that he and Pacquiao got for the Marquez “win” and the fastest way of getting that done is by Pacquiao facing Marquez again and beating him next time instead of getting yet another questionable decision win.

I think it’s nice that Arum has asked Roach for his two cents on who Pacquiao should fight next, but I don’t think it holds any water. If the guy that Roach picks doesn’t go with who Arum wants Paquiao to fight, you can bet Roach’s pick will be completely ignored. After all, he’s just the trainer and not the matchmaker. The hand-picking is done from the top not from the bottom. Roach might end up picking someone for the sake of a competitive fight and we could see Pacquiao get spanked again.