Pacquiao’s next opponent could be picked this week for December 8th fight

By Rob Smith: Manny Pacquiao’s adviser Michael Koncz is reporting that negotiations are complete with the potential opponent for Pacquiao’s next fight on December 8th in Las Vegas, and the only thing that is needed now is Top Rank promoter Bob Arum’s final decision. It’s going to be either Tim Bradley or Juan Manuel Marquez, two of Pacquiao’s past opponents. The opponent could be announced on Thursday, September 13th. That’s the word that has been floating around.

Koncz told RingTV “We’re done negotiation. We’ll present everything to Bob, and he will decide what he wants to do.”

Interesting. I thought Pacquiao was supposed to be the one that is picking out his next opponent, but Koncz sure is making it seem as if Arum is the ultimate decider in the choosing.

It’s not all that appealing Pacquiao facing the retreads that Arum has offered up to him. Boxing fans want to see Pacquiao fight someone new instead of seeing the same old Top Rank fighters brought in repeatedly for fights against him. At this point it would be more interesting to see Pacquiao fight someone completely new, even if it meant that the fight would likely be a mismatch. Seeing Pacquiao fight Bradley again would be like watching paint dry.

Sure it might be competitive, but who wants to watch Bradley running around the ring for 12 rounds and Pacquiao only fighting hard in the last 20 seconds of every round. Arum would really make a lot of boxing fans happy if he picked out someone that matched Pacquiao’s style better. A good pressure fighter would be an excellent opponent for Pacquiao even if it meant him getting an early knockout. Pacquiao hasn’t knocked out anyone since 2009, so it would be worth it to see him KO someone for a change.

If I was to guess who gets the fight with Pacquiao I’d say it’s probably going to be 39-year-old Marquez. The likely reason why the fight hasn’t been made yet is because Marquez might want a lot of money, more than what they were hoping to give him. Bradley is not a good option because his fight with Pacquiao last June didn’t make a ton of money like Pacquiao’s recent fights. But a fourth fight between Pacquiao and Marquez might not bring in the old numbers that Arum is used to getting, because the match-up has been done too many times already. It’s been played out like a joke that’s been told too many times to the same audience. Arum needs some new material for Pacquiao. He needs to make the Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight already. How long is he going to wait to finally make that fight happen? I’d hate to see Pacquiao and Mayweather having to use a cane to get around the ring when the fight is finally made.