By Ryan Burton
Top Rank CEO Bob Arum recently floated the idea of eight division champion Manny Pacquiao facing Canelo Alvarez in the fall. However there are several hurdles that must be addressed before such a mega-fight could occur.
First Pacquiao must defeat Bradley Saturday night at the MGM Grand and Alvarez must take care of business against Amir Khan on May 7th at the T-Mobile Center.
Pacquiao has also stated that he may retire after the Bradley fight although Arum believes the Filipino star will continue to fight.
Then there is the issue of weight. Khan is moving up by 8 pounds to face Canelo at a catchweight of 155 pounds. The highest weight Pacquiao has fought at was a 150 pound catchweight when he faced Antonio Margarito for the vacant WBC super welterweight title. Pacquiao was at a significant weight disadvantage inside of the ring and while he left the ring victorious, he admitted to being badly hurt by a body shot midway through the fight. After the fight Pacquiao immediately moved back down to the welterweight division.
Pacquiao's trainer Freddie Roach is confident that Pacquiao would find a way to defeat the WBC middleweight champion but will closely monitor Khan's performance against Canelo before signing off on the potential pay-per-view blockbuster.
"Canelo, we will talk about it. I know he is big - Manny has always done good with big guys. I think Manny can outbox Canelo. It is a difficult fight I know. I think we get a look at Amir Khan and see how that goes a little bit and we will have maybe a better idea because Amir is like Manny - he is a good athlete. He is very athletic and very fast. I don't know if those pictures were Photoshopped or what but it looks like put on a lot of muscle. People tell me those aren't real pictures though," Roach told BoxingScene.com.
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