By Dr. Peter Edwards

In the first ever BoxingScene mailbag we tackle a number of topics. The reasoning behind Ricky Hatton facing Oktay Urkal, career plan for Filipino bomber Manny Pacquiao, Marco Antonio Barrera's rematch plans with Rocky Juarez, the Floyd Mayweather-Antonio Margarito situation and more.

kfootball15 - Why is Hatton fighting Urkal and not Castillo or Corrales?

Response - If Ricky Hatton does not fight Oktay Urkal, he will be stripped of his WBA welterweight title. Urkal stepped aside to allow Hatton to fight Luis Collazo and was promised a shot at the winner.

After Hatton beat Collazo, he was talking about moving back down to 140 pounds, but has since changed his mind as all of the big names like Miguel Cotto, Floyd Mayweather, Zab Judah and Arturo Gatti and now fighting at 147.

At the moment, both Jose Luis Castillo and Diego Corrales are locked in what is going to become a nasty legal battle over Castillo's inability to make weight for his trilogy bout with Corrales.

Castillo was set to fight Miguel Cotto in the final quarter of the year and because of all the legal problems and inevitable penalties from the Nevada State Athletic Commission, he is no position to make such a fight. Corrales on the other hand is in no hurry to move up to 140 pounds as long as he can continue to easily make 135.

AIR_KENG - If you would make a line-up for Pacman to fight for his next 5 fights, who will they be and in what order should he fight them?

Response - There are so many fights for Manny Pacquiao. If I had to map out a 5 fight plan for Pacquiao, it would include Jorge Barrios, Marco Antonio Barrera, Juan Manuel Marquez, Chris John and Alex Arthur.

I would face Chris John first as he is the recognized man at 126 after taking a controversial decision over Juan Manuel Marquez.

After John, I would go right for Marco Antonio Barrera. Barrera has only a few fights left before he retires and I would force a second bout with him as soon as possible. Barrera is possibly one loss away from calling it a day and Pacquiao does not want someone else to cost him a multi-million dollar payday by beating Barrera before he manages to get him in the ring. Pacquiao will keep his fingers crossed when Barrera faces Rocky Juarez in a rematch later this year.

The next step would be to face Juan Manuel Marquez in a revenge bout to settle the score on their 2004 controversial draw. After Marquez I would have him face someone along the line of Alex Arthur, who is a good fighter, but is not fast or strong enough for Pacquiao.

The last and the most dangerous opponent is Jorge Barrios. The Argentinean is a very big puncher and accurate. He was on the verge of upsetting Acelino Freitas in 2003 when a punch from Freitas at the bell to end the 11th round turned the entire fight around and saved Freitas who at the time was still undefeated. The only other loss on Barrios' record is by disqualification in 1997.

It would be a very tough fight for Pacquiao to win, but would raise his stature enormously if he did.

BLOODSHED - What do you make of Barrera fighting Juarez in the rematch instead of Raheem or even Freitas?

There was so much talk about Barrera fading is his fight against Rocky Juarez that he needs to prove his case of having an off night by fighting him again. It's a risky fight as Rocky Juarez is very confident after busting up Barrera in the first fight. He knows that he gave up a lot of the early rounds and is sure to start quicker the second time around, which could spell problems for Marco if he is not at the top of his game.

It would not be a smart move for Barrera to move up to 135 pounds to fight much bigger fighters in Zahir Raheem and Acelino Freitas. I think Raheem and Feitas beat Barrera easy. Barrera was willing to move up to face Jesus Chavez because he felt he could beat Chavez and I felt Chavez would have won that fight as well. Freitas is too big and strong for Barrera and Raheem is too big, too skilled and too fast. Both Freitas and Raheem would likely enter the fight between 147-150+, putting Barrera at a very bad disadvantage from the start.

adrsan84 - First off, did you see the Margarito fight versus Santos and think Santos dominated? Margarito was ahead in most people's opinion(except 2 of the judges in Puerto Rico, which Santos calls home) and was starting to dominate even more at the time of the stoppage.

Second he is not little 130 pound Diego Corrales or human punching bag Arturo Gatti, and the best is when you compared him to John Ruiz, since they have completely different styles, Margarito offers power AND volume, he will not stop punching and throws nearly 100 punches per round, most of them with the intention of hurting you badly.

Also Mayweather has not denied the 8 million dollar offer, trust me he would if it weren't true, but he claims to have a better offer.

So you ask why would he dodge Margarito, but why don't you answer that, it's 8 mill in the bank.

I feel that unless he fights him next or has a larger offer he WILL be ducking Margarito (he isn't yet, he hasn’t decided his next move) , and i think it's because Margarito's size, power, and stamina and volume make him a true threat to beat Floyd. Regardless if it's a huge chance or not it exists, and since everyone is calling for this fight and he claims it'll be easy work he should do it.

Response - I saw the Margarito fight with Santos and it was a very close fight at the time of the stoppage, but Margarito was having all sorts of difficulties in the bout as Santos came in as the much bigger man. Santos rocked Margarito bad in what I remember was the second round and was able to maneuver him in several of the rounds because he was so much bigger. Margarito obviously knew that fighting at 154 was a mistake and moved back down right after the fight.

The $8 million dollar offer is what promoter Bob Arum is claiming to give Floyd Mayweather for the fight. Many other writers and people in the business are very skeptical of the $8 million dollar payday as the amount of money is almost ridiculous for such a fight.

We have no idea if the offer was officially made on paper, confirmation that it's not simply word of mouth from the promoter.

If it was actually sent on paper, it raises even more questions. What are the stipulations in the contract? How much of the $8 million is guaranteed money? What is the gate split? What is the pay-per-view revenue split? If only $4 million is guaranteed and the rest of the purse rests on other factors, it's not really an $8 million dollar payday.

People knock Floyd, but I can't for the life of me see how Winky Wright would turn down $4 million to face a fighter two weight classes below him. In my opinion, Wright would beat Margarito with little to no trouble. He can make a case that he wants the same offer Floyd was given, but he is not in the welterweight division and he would be a much bigger favorite to win than Mayweather. Even promoter Bob Arum admits that Wright would be a big favorite to win and all of the advantages are on his side, so it would be stupid to offer Wright the same amount of money as Mayweather.

Margarito can throw 1000 punches per round, he still has to land them and Mayweather has the best defense in the business.

No word on what will happen next for Mayweather, but I expect that he will face either Margarito or someone of near value as the fight is expected to be a pay-per-view event. If he only did an average of around 350K buys for his pay-per-view fights against Arturo Gatti and Zab Judah, he will need an above average opponent to sell the show.

Send all mailbag questions and comments to boxingscene@gmail.com