By Chris Williams: Earlier today, Bob Arum of Top Rank shot down the rumors about his cash cow fighter Manny Pacquiao perhaps taking the rest of 2012 off so that he could rest up and wait for huge mega fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. Arum told Philboxing.com that Pacquiao will indeed be fighting on November 10th against one of three opponents picked out for him to choose from.

Arum has someone in mind for November 10th date and hopes to have the negotiations ironed out soon. The fight could be announced by the end of next week, says Arum.

While Arum and Pacquiao may get a little extra cash by slipping in this fight in November, they could end up ruining any chances of a bout against Floyd Mayweather Jr. for next year because if Pacquiao loses his next fight, which is highly likely if he faces anyone good, then there’s no way Pacquiao and Arum will be able to negotiate a fight with Mayweather unless they’re willing to take a lot less than 50%. To be sure, the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight can still be made even if Pacquiao gets beat again, but he’ll likely have to be willing to accept a figure closer to 30 to 40% of the revenue for that fight to take place.

The opponents that Arum has mentioned for Pacquiao’s next fight is Juan Manuel Marquez, Miguel Cotto and Tim Bradley. Arum has already said that he’s not all that interested in seeing Pacquiao fight a rematch against Bradley because the money won’t be as big as it would be if he fought Cotto or Marquez. Pacquiao was recently beaten by Bradley last June, so that’s obviously one of the reasons why Pacquiao might be interested in facing Bradley again.

For a Pacquiao-Cotto fight to take place, Arum will have to convince Pacquiao to fight at a catchweight of 150 lbs, because Cotto doesn’t want to move down from 154 to fight Pacquiao at 147 lbs, and Pacquiao’s not interested in fighting Cotto at the full 154 pound weight for the junior middleweight division.

It’s difficult to imagine why Arum would want to even make boxing fans see a rematch between Pacquiao and Cotto because Pacquiao already convincingly beat Cotto in 2009 by a 12th round TKO. To make a fight just because it can make money doesn’t mean it should be made when the first fight was a so one-sided.

Boxing fans shouldn’t have to see Arum trotting out retreads over and over again to fight Pacquiao. He should look for new fighters because it causes the sport to become smaller if all you’re doing is matching Pacquiao against three or four guys over and over and over again.

Arum needs to think long term about the sport, because Cotto, Pacquiao, and Marquez won’t be around forever, and when they’re gone there won’t be anyone that can take their place to generate numbers. If Arum thinks Bradley is going to be that guy he’s sadly mistaken. The same for most of his other Top Rank fighters. He needs to find some new blood and quick. I can’t see Pacquiao lasting another two years without taking loss after loss. The same goes for Marquez and Cotto.