By Chris Williams: With the boxing news that Bob Arum has already scheduled Manny Pacquiao for April 20th in 2013, that effectively rules out a Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight. Arum announcing the fight date for Pacquiao’s next fight could easily be interpreted as code to mean ‘I don’t want to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. on this date.’

That’s pretty much the only way you can really see it, because by dictating what date Pacquiao is going to fight in his first fight in 2013, it puts Mayweather in the position to where he’ll likely feel like he’s groveling or in a one down position if he agrees to fighting Pacquiao on that date.

But it doesn’t look like Arum was ever really serious about Pacquiao fighting Mayweather on that date anyway, so I think even if Mayweather agreed to fighting Pacquiao then, my guess is Arum would start with the talk of an outdoor stadium needing to be built or a slow healing injury that Pacquiao has that needs more time. Once Mayweather is out of the picture, I see Arum quickly inserting one of his Top Rank stable fighters like Tim Bradley into that slot.

What will likely happen next April is that Pacquiao will fight the winner of the Bradley vs. Lamont Peterson fight on that date. It won’t be Mayweather, and it surely won’t be Miguel Cotto, because he’s not going to drain himself down to fight Pacquiao at 147 lbs or meet him at a catchweight. And Pacquiao definitely isn’t going to move up to 154 to fight Cotto at the full weight for the junior middleweight division.

That isn’t going to happen in this lifetime. Believe me, what we’ll be seeing is Pacquiao fighting either Bradley or Peterson depending on which one comes out on top in their fight in December. That’ll make for a nice little in-house Top Rank fight.