By Chris Williams: If there was ever a perfect time for WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao to assert himself by telling his promoter Bob Arum he wants the Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight then this is it right now.
Mayweather was given a 90-day delay for his jail term so that he could take the fight with Pacquiao on May 5th, but now the Filipino star’s promoter Bob Arum is dragging his feet at the idea of letting Pacquiao fight Mayweather on that date. Ultimately, the decision rests with Pacquiao, as he can at any time overrule the wishes of his promoter Arum by standing up his hind legs and saying he wants the fight. But you have to wonder whether Pacquiao really wants the fight if he bends to Arum’s wishes and goes ahead and fights one of the four fighters that Arum will be submitting to him for his next fight.
There’s four guys that Arum wants Pacquiao to pick from but two of them – Miguel Cotto and Timothy Bradley – are from Arum’s Top Rank stable, and it kind of goes without saying that Arum will be looking for Pacquiao to pick one of them in order for Arum to keep them happy, increase their value to Top Rank, and keep the fight an in house fight to avoid cross promotional issues. But Pacquiao stop the show at any time and insist on fighting Mayweather on May 5th, but will he do that?
My guess is a big no! While I think Pacquiao likes to give sound bites about him wanting to fight Mayweather, I think he really doesn’t want that fight. I think he’s happy with the guys that Arum has been feeding him. There haven’t been any real risky fights that Arum has put Pacquiao in during the last three years.
Look at the fighters that Arum has fed Pacquiao:
Oscar De La Hoya – weight drained and old
Miguel Cotto – Was weight drained from catch weight and coming off of two tough fights against Antonio Margarito and Joshua Clottey. Cotto go stopped by Margarito and he won a controversial decision over Clottey.
Ricky Hatton – Weak from having taken off 30 pounds of blubber during training camp and fought like an unskilled wild man.
Shane Mosley – 40-years-old and completely shot without a win in two years at the time Pacquiao fought him.
Antonio Margarito Weakened by catch weight, rusty and slow, and not the same fighter that beat Cotto.
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