WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao is set to have a meeting with his promoter, Bob Arum of Top Rank, and adviser Michael Koncz, in the next few days in the Philippines. Arum will present a list with four potential opponents for Pacquiao's next fight, including Miguel Cotto, Lamont Peterson, Timothy Bradley and Juan Manuel Marquez.
It remains to be seen who exactly Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr., the sport’s two biggest attractions, will face next. While the thought of them finally meeting up with one another is of most interest, it’s a clash that doesn’t seem likely to happen next. Mayweather recently received a delay on a 90-day jail sentence he had been eyeing for January 6th and is again in the clear to pursue a May 5th assignment at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. The two names having risen to the surface in the media that he may indeed fight are that of former champion Robert ‘The Ghost’ Guerrero and Mexican superstar Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. has once again taken over the headlines this Friday afternoon with the news that the undefeated fighter has been granted a five-month delay on a prison term that was expected to hit this morning. Last month Mayweather was struck with a 90-day jail sentence in relation to his role in a domestic violence case in September of 2010 involving his former fiancé’ Josie Harris and two of his children.
Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe, and Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer, have both spoken out as Floyd Mayweather’s prison sentence was put back to June 1st and in effect, opened up the opportunity for a May 5th showdown with Manny Pacquiao.
In a recent interview with the New York Times, Manny Pacquiao's trainer, Freddie Roach, discussed a possible fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. Based on the recent information going around, Pacquiao and Mayweather are going to face different opponents in the coming months. Mayweather looks to be on the verge of facing Saul Alvarez or Robert Guerrero on May 5th in Las Vegas, and Pacquiao will possibly face Miguel Cotto, Lamont Peterson, Timothy Bradley or Juan Manuel Marquez.
It was no surprise Floyd Mayweather Jr. on Friday did not go directly to jail. Instead, a Las Vegas judge allowed him to pass go so he can collect a lot more than the $200 you get in Monopoly.
Harvard law graduate and Top Rank promoter Bob Arum has described the judge’s ruling, which allowed Floyd Mayweather Jr. to postpone serving his 90 day prison term from January 6 to June 1 to allow him to comply with a May 5th fight date as “the most bizarre thing I’ve ever heard.”
Will WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao take the fifth? That is the question that inquiring boxing minds want to hear answered.
It didn’t take long for news to circulate of Floyd Mayweather Jr. being granted a five month delay on a prison term that was set to begin Friday.
Marroso told BoxingScene.com/Manila Standard “We have provided Mayweather with results of drug tests ordered by the athletic commissions with jurisdiction over Mr. Pacquiao's fights. Every test is absolutely clean. There is no presence of any banned substance whatsoever.”