MANILA, Philippines — The guessing game as to the identity of Manny Pacquiao’s next foe continues.
Top Rank chief Bob Arum, who was in the country for five days last week, is keeping his mouth shut, telling the Bulletin from his Las Vegas lair yesterday to “talk to you in a couple of days.”
Even Pacquiao’s Canadian adviser Mike Koncz likewise declined to utter something peppery, more at ease with doing the same thing as Arum as Team Pacquiao continues to nurse hopes that a megabuck match with Floyd Mayweather can be made.
Before heading back to the US over the weekend, Arum clarified that excluding Mayweather from the short list of fighters being looked is not a good idea even though he himself had scratched him off from the roster.
Mayweather’s statement that became viral on the Internet on the same day Arum flew back to the US may have something to do with Arum’s decision to reconsider.
Still, just about everyone could not categorically say who would it be despite reports circulating that Miguel Cotto will be tapped once it can be determined that a Mayweather match cannot be made at least for late-May or early-June.
Trainer Freddie Roach has been very vocal about seeing Pacquiao face off with Mayweather but has mellowed down a bit, saying he prefers Tim Bradley over Cotto.
Speaking to the online edition of The Ring magazine, the 51-year-old Roach said Pacquiao will likely beat up Cotto in a rematch.
“I’d rather go with Bradley, because the Cotto thing is probably going to end the same way, I think,” said Roach, referring to the one-sided beatdown Pacquiao administered to the Puerto Rican in Nov. 2009.
Even though Cotto has been on a three-fight winning streak after losing to Pacquiao, Roach still believes “the same thing is going to happen as the last time.”
Roach added: “At least with Tim Bradley, he has two pretty good punches and a really good headbutt, so that’s something different to be concerned about.”
While Arum explores the possibilties for a Pacquiao-Mayweather clash in the coming days, Pacquiao will revert back to his old ways.
“He’ll be going back to congress then we’ll have a shoot for Nike this weekend,” said Koncz, who presided over Pacquiao’s recent shoot for Hennessy cognac with the help of Top Rank marketing executive Lucia Mckelvey.
source: mb.com.ph
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