By Ronnie Nathanielsz
TOP Rank promoter Bob Arum said he will discuss Manny Pacquiao’s next fight with trainer Freddie Roach tomorrow night, with Miguel Cotto high up on the list of possible opponents.
In an overseas telephone conversation with BoxingScene.com, insidesports.ph, Standard Today and Viva Sports, Arum said they would watch the Cotto-Joshua Clottey welterweight title fight at Madison Square Garden on June 13.
“A Pacquiao-Cotto fight is a possibility and Edwin Valero is also a possibility,” said Arum.
Valero won the World Boxing Council lightweight title relinquished by Pacquiao with a second-round TKO over the badly outclassed Antonio Pitalua, but whether Pacquiao would agree to go down to 135 pounds is not clear.
“Right now, Manny can pick whoever he wants. We will find out when he wants to fight because I have a number of dates reserved, including October and November. Whatever he [Pacquiao] wants, we can do,” Arum added.
The astute promoter said that while both dates are scheduled for Las Vegas, “you can’t believe the calls that I’m getting from everybody. The Dallas Cowboys want to host him at their new stadium that seats 100,000 people, the Mets want him out in New York. But we have to sift through the offers. I think the safest place is Las Vegas, but there are other opportunities.”
In a brief conversation with Standard Today at Malacañang on Monday, Pacquiao said right now, he plans to relax and enjoy even though there were reports that Floyd Mayweather Jr. was training hard for his scheduled fight against Juan Manuel Marquez and a predicted showdown with Pacquiao later in the year or early in 2010.
“Good. He has to train hard for his upcoming fight on July 18,” said Pacquiao.
At the same time, he brushed aside claims by the Mayweather camp that the former pound-for-pound no. 1 was too big for the reigning king. “That’s what they always say. We are the same.”
Roach, in comments carried by boxingscene.com, blasted Mayweather Jr. for agreeing to fight Marquez at the MGM Grand instead of waiting one day and signing up to fight the current pound-for-pound king.
“So much for truth in advertising,” said Roach as he criticized the effort to build up the Mayweather Jr.-Marquez fight as “Number 1/Numero Uno” in reference to Mayweather’s former status as pound-for-pound champion. “We all know who the no. 1 pound-for-pound fighter is and his name in Manny Pacquiao. They can call Mayweather-Marquez no. 1, but it smells like no. 2. The fight stinks. Two counter-punchers waiting for the other one to make the first move is boring and proves nothing.”