Manny Pacquiao’s November opponent should be finalised in the next week, as Top Rank CEO Bob Arum jets off to the Philippines to discuss possible opponents with the “Pacman”.
Pacquiao, boxing’s only eight-weight world champion, is coming off a lopsided victory in his trilogy rubber match with Tim Bradley. That bout was his first since his disappointing showing against Floyd Mayweather in May 2015, when a shoulder injury hampered his chances in one of the most eagerly anticipated fights in some time.
Jesse Vargas appears to be the front-runner in the negotiations to fight Pacquiao. According to the Filipino's advisor, Michael Koncz, he has been in discussions with the American's camp for a number of weeks, while Bob arum has been tweeting about his own trip to sort out the details of the next fight.
Leaving for Manila next week to meet with @MannyPacquiaoTR to discuss plans for his November 5th bout.
— Bob Arum (@BobArum) 1 August 2016
At 37, the Filipino only has a couple of legitimate fights left to make if he is to sign off properly on a truly outstanding career.
We look at some of the possible opponents he should fight if the Vargas bout isn't made, in no particular order.
Danny Garcia: A fight with the unbeaten WBC welterweight champion is an exciting prospect. Garcia has beaten a credible list of foes including Amir Khan, Lucas Matthysse and Robert Guerrero. A bout against Pacquiao would be worthy of a PPV slot and would put his 32 fight winning streak to the test.
Keith Thurman: A brawl with another undefeated and highly-touted American could be a cracker. Thurman has steadily developed into a genuine force in the welterweight division and holds the WBA strap. His recent scrap with Shawn Porter indicates he would be willing to stand and trade with the Pacman if a bout between the two were to be arranged.
Juan Manuel Marquez: Pacquiao and Marquez will be forever linked; you can't talk about one without talking about the other. Four epic bouts have produced 42 rounds of back-and-forth action, five knockdowns, plenty of judging controversy and one devastating KO.
Pacquiao leads the series 2-1-1 but would clearly love to avenge his KO defeat in their 4th encounter. This bout remains unlikely to happen as the Mexican wants the lasting image of their rivalry to be Manny face-planted on a Las Vegas canvas. However, Marquez recently couldn’t agree a fight with Miguel Cotto, and one last huge payday against the Filipino might change his mind.
Floyd Mayweather: Pacquiao and his trainer have talked about a rematch of the richest boxing match in history. Although the first fight blew PPV records out of the water doing over 4.4 million buys in the U.S. alone, the fight failed to live up to expectations.
Mayweather’s elusive style combined with the injury Pacquiao picked up in the fourth round led to the bout having limited action. It’s unlikely a second bout would generate as much interest as the first, but if it did even half the PPV numbers, it would rank as the 3rd biggest fight ever.
Given Mayweather retired after his bout with Andre Berto last September, there's a slim chance of this one seeing the light of day. However, with his record still at 49-0, tied with Rocky Marciano, the chance to surpass that mark at some stage must be on Floyd's mind.
Terence Crawdford: This appears to be the most likely match-up if Vargas falls through for a couple of reasons, the main one being both Pacquiao and Crawford are promoted by Top Rank. Bob Arum generally likes to keep his fights in-house, so as to keep most of the profits for himself.
He can also control all aspects of the promotion from which PPV network to the venue to how much the tickets cost. He might even see this as a chance for Pacquiao to pass the torch to Crawford as Top Rank’s leading fighter.
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