Endless options for Pacquiao

By NICK GIONGCO March 22, 2010 http://www.mb.com.ph/sites/default/files/endless-options.jpg The possibilities are endless for Manny Pacquiao. A week after the Filipino tamed Joshua Clottey of Ghana before 51,000 fans at the state-of-the-art Cowboys Stadium in Dallas, Texas, Pacquiao’s promoter, future Hall of Famer Bob Arum bared that the world’s No. 1 boxer might end up invading the super-welterweight ranks of 154 lbs. “Yeah, that’s a possibility,” Arum said from his Las Vegas home last Sunday. Arum said a rematch between Pacquiao and former victim Miguel Cotto might be put together if Cotto beats Yuri Foreman in their June showdown in New York. “I can make a fight such as that one for Manny if Manny wants an eighth world title,” said Arum, who has been promoting Pacquiao since 2001 although it was only in 2005 that the two started their full-time relationship. Pacquiao has won world titles at flyweight (112 lbs), super-bantam (122), feather (126), super-feather (130), lightweight (135), super-lightweight (140), and welter (147) and Arum said “there are lots of opportunities for Pacquiao out there.” Before Pacquiao left Los Angeles for Manila yesterday, Arum talked with Pacquiao adviser Mike Koncz and told him that there’ll be no discussions of boxing in the weeks leading up to the May 10 elections. Pacquiao is running for congressman in Sarangani province and Arum has instructed Koncz that talks regarding Pacquiao’s much-awaited return to the ring in November will only begin after the elections. Cotto, in a chance encounter with the Bulletin in Dallas during the Pacquiao-Clottey headliner, said he is interested in getting it on with Pacquiao for the second time despite the terrible beating that he took from him in November last year. “Yeah,” said Cotto when the possibility of a second meeting with Pacquiao was raised, confident that he will be a lot stronger at 154 lbs than he was when he faced Pacquiao at a catch weight of 145 lbs. Arum is looking at three names for Pacquiao this November: Antonio Margarito, Edwin Valero, and Juan Manuel Marquez. That is, if a mouth-watering match with Floyd Mayweather is not made.