Arum Gives Pacquiao & Roach List Of 8 Names To Choose From

TOP Rank promoter Bob Arum has given Manny Pacquiao and trainer Freddie Roach a list of eight names of possible opponents to choose from for his next fight, tentatively set Oct. 17. Matchmaker Bruce Trampler met with Roach at the Wild Card gym in Los Angeles and provided him with the list of possible opponents, which includes Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Juan Manuel Marquez, who clash on July 18; and Miguel Cotto and Joshua Clottey, who face off on June 13 in a World Boxing Organization welterweight title fight. Also in the list was World Boxing Association welterweight champion Shane Mosley, who has been calling out Pacquiao and says he’s willing to go down to a catch-weight of 143 pounds and to give the Filipino a larger share of a 60-40 split; and World Boxing Council lightweight champion Edwin Valero. The other names were not revealed. But Roach wants to first discuss the opponents with Pacquiao. “Freddie reserved his right not to express his opinion publicly at this time,” Trampler said. Since Arum is Pacquiao’s promoter, Trampler said both he (Arum) and Roach want to do what is best for Pacquiao, who is scheduled to leave for Los Angeles on Tuesday and will appear on the widely watched CBS’ Early Morning Show in New York on Friday. Arum also told Standard Today that Time magazine had requested a couple of hours with Pacquiao, since they want to do a spread on him. Trampler revealed the choice is likely to be guided by an opponent who could maximize Pacquiao’s earning power. “The opponent must have a style that complements Manny’s attack and someone who is not excessively heavier than Pacquiao,” said Trampler. In order to ensure that Pacquiao is not disadvantaged too much in terms of weight, they may require a weigh-in on the day of the fight instead of the afternoon on the eve of the fight, which indicated that this would happen should Pacquiao decide to fight Mosley, Cotto or Clottey (in case Clottey beats Cotto), or even Mayweather Jr. should he win over Marquez as most people, including Pacquiao, expect. Although the list that was discussed with Roach contains some of the best fighters in the world, Trampler said: “Freddie told me he believes Manny will be able to defeat any and all of the eight names we discussed and that it would be his job to prepare Pacquiao for whichever opponent is ultimately selected.” There were indications that Roach doesn’t want Pacquiao to fight someone much heavier than him, hinting that Mosley and Cotto may be out of the picture. Roach pointed out that since Pacquiao weighed only 138 pounds for his last fight against Ricky Hatton, when he was allowed to weigh 140, he would like to match him against someone closer to his own size. “It seems like everyone who is calling out the Pacman is much heavier than Manny, albeit somewhat willing to come down at least a little bit closer to Manny’s true weight,” Trampler said.