By Lem Satterfield
According to Top Rank's CEO Bob Arum, there is no way, under any circumstances, that he will consider a making a fight between Manny Pacquiao and WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez, at a catch-weight of 155-pounds or otherwise. Arum has a short-list of opponents for Pacquiao's next fight, which includes WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto, three division champion Shane Mosley, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and WBA/WBO lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez.
"We're not entertaining Martinez. There is no way that we're entertaining Martinez. Martinez goes into the ring...the weight, this whole weight issue the day before the fight at the weigh-in is meaningless. It's the weight that they go into the ring at. Martinez will go into the ring weighing something like 175 pounds. He would be fighting a guy who would go into the ring -- Manny -- not even weighing 150 pounds," Arum said.
"Manny would be giving away 25 f**king pounds. I'm not going to let my guy do that. One guy would be way too big for the little guy. I've been around for a long time. I was involved in the promotion of Carlos Monzon and Jose Napoles. That was with Monzon being the middleweight champion, and Napoles being the welterweight champion. Monzon was way too big for him and easily beat him [seventh-round knockout in February of 1974.] He was 25 pounds too much. I've got the greatest fighter of all time, but I don't have Superman."
Arum will be in the Philippines by December 14 to celebrate Pacquiao's birthday, and his own. He will present the short-list of opponents, and the monetary benefits associated with each fight, and hopes to have a candidate locked down by December 19.
"My [79th] birthday is Dec. 8, and Manny's birthday is Dec. 17. I hope to have something lined up by Sunday, Dec. 19 when I return from the Philippines," Arum said.
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.
