By Allan Fox: At this point there’s really not much of the Top Rank stable of fighters for WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao to obliterate. He’s already beaten Joshua Clottey, Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito. Pacquiao is facing new Top Rank signee Tim Bradley next month on May 5th, and Pacquiao is expected to win that fight without too many problems.

So where does Pacquiao go next? Bob Arum of Top Rank doesn’t have too much left for Pacquiao in his stable. Does Arum keep Pacquiao in a fight against someone like the towering unbeaten 6-foot welterweight contender Mike Jones or lightweight Brandon Rios or does Arum look to match Pacquiao against an outside fighter like the winner of the June 23rd fight between Andre Berto and Victor Ortiz.

The winner of that fight would make for a good opponent for Pacquiao, because those guys can punch unlike Bradley. They would give Pacquiao some problems while the fight lasts. However, neither of those guys are Top Rank fighters and that could get in the way of the fight being made.

Berto would have a decent chance at beating Pacquiao if he doesn’t start getting dropped from power shots. If Berto fights his best fight, he could potentially beat Pacquiao. I don’t see it happening but it’s a possibility. I think Bob Arum would jump at the chance of matching Pacquiao with Berto simply because Berto is so flawed and beatable. He would make it interesting initially due to his hand speed and power, but then he’d crumble quickly as soon as he starts getting hit and would likely get taken out quickly by Pacquiao unless Pacquiao’s KO drought continues into this fight.

If Ortiz beats Berto, then I don’t see Pacquiao being permitted to fight him because he’s a Golden Boy Promotions fighter and Top Rank normally doesn’t fight Golden Boy fighters for some peculiar reason. It would be a good fight for Pacquiao, certainly a lot better than seeing Pacquiao fight guys like Antonio Margarito and Timothy Bradley but I don’t see it happening in a million years.

More than likely Arum will choose someone flawed in part of their game to fight Pacquiao next after the Bradley fight. Pacquiao has been matched up with a string up beatable fighters dating back for several years. The one exception was Juan Manuel Marquez, but he likely only got the third fight with Pacquiao because he was likely thought to be too old to be a threat.