By Lem Satterfield
Whether it's Miguel Cotto or Antonio Margarito, Top CEO Bob Arum will put Manny Pacquiao in position to become an eight division world champion. Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr. is still in play until the end of the week. Arum and Team Pacquiao gave Mayweather a mid-July deadline to accept a proposal for a mega-bout on November 13 in Las Vegas.
Once the deadline runs out, Pacquiao will have two choices on the table. The first choice is WBA junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto, who Pacquiao knocked out for the WBO welterweight title last November. The second choice is Antonio Margarito. The Mexican former champion is still without a license to box in the United States, but he is ranked in the number 1 position within the WBC's ratings at 154-pounds.
If Pacquiao decides on Margarito, Arum says the fight would take place at junior middleweight with the vacant WBC title at stake. The title was vacated by Sergio Martinez, who elected to keep the WBC's middleweight that he won from Kelly Pavlik in April. The number 2 ranked fighter at 154 is Saul Alvarez, the WBC's silver champion at the weight. Alvarez plans to move back down to welterweight and already has a fight scheduled for Septemebr 18 in Los Angeles. Pacquiao is not currently ranked at 154, although he would likely be ranked in the top 5 is he elects to move up in weight.
"Sergio Martinez had that title and he vacated that WBC crown to keep the WBC middleweight title. So Margarito and Manny Pacquiao would be fighting for that title," Arum said.
Because Margarito is unable to fight in the United States, the fight would take place overseas. Arum will also explore the possibility of bringing the fight to Las Vegas. Margarito was turned down for a license to box in Nevada last Friday. A fight with Margarito, or Cotto, would take place in a Middle Eastern country or Mexico. Arum said a recent meeting with reps for the Middle Eastern country went very well.
"I will say that we had another very good meeting with representatives from the Mid-East country, and it's going to be wild," said Arum. "They're now willing to do the fight in the morning over there, which will coincide with a regular evening time here in the United States. So pay per view wouldn't be much affected. It's going to be a blockbuster if that's what happens."
Lem Satterfield is the boxing editor at AOL FanHouse and the news editor at BoxingScene.com. To read more from Lem Satterfield, go to AOL FanHouse by Clicking Here .
