“Fighter of the Decade” Manny Pacquiao’s trusted adviser Michael Koncz continues to hold a series of meetings with different individuals in an effort to somehow work out a deal with Floyd Mayweather Jr for a Pacquiao fight at the end of May or June 9 and if no agreement is reached an announcement on Pacquiao’s next opponent would be made over the weekend.
While he isn’t prepared to disclose details of his conversations which were going on until almost midnight (Vegas Time) Koncz told the Manila Standard yesterday “we are going to have a clearer direction by the end of the week” after which the Pacquiao camp is expected to announce who his opponent will be for a scheduled June 9 WBO welterweight title defense.
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum told us that Koncz was trying everything but declined to go into details on why no apparent progress is being made.
Should negotiations for a May 5 or June 9 fight against Mayweather fail then the choice of an opponent for Pacquiao would be from among the four names mentioned when Arum discussed his next fight with Pacquiao during a recent visit to Manila.
At this stage indications are that Juan Manuel Marquez is not even being talked about and that Lamont Patterson who may have to give Amir Khan a rematch on the orders of the WBA may also drop out as a result of this.
Koncz disclosed that Miguel Cotto met with Top Rank promoter Bob Arum but with Pacquiao making it clear he would not go beyond the welterweight limit of 147 pounds chances are Cotto who is the 154 pound champion will not agree to coming down in weight like he did when Cotto last fought Pacquiao and was battered into submission in the 12th round.
That leaves undefeated WBO/WBA light welterweight champion Timothy Bradley (28-0, 12 KO’s) who had previously beaten Patterson comfortably after dropping him in round three on December 12, 2009 and won a 10 round technical decision over undefeated Devon Alexander on January 29, 2011 before scoring an 8th round TKO after dropping former champion Joel Casamayor in nrounds 5, 6 and 8 on November 12, 2011.
Pacquiao’s friend and confidant Rex “Wakee” Salud said he believes that unless Mayweather agrees to face Pacquiao, Bradley would be the best choice which is what trainer Freddie Roach said recently on badlefthook.com
Roach was quoted as saying “I think we need some new blood there and Bradley poses a little bit of a problem. So I would rather go with Tim Bradley than a Miguel Cotto or someone else.”
He said “ I haven’t talked to anyone yet but I think that Bob Arum’s choices to me are Cotto or Bradley.”
However, Koncz said that the problem is that while Bradley is not a dirty fighter “has a bad habit of coming in with his head and may cause a head-butt. Besides Manny’s got some bad cuts from head-butts and I don’t like that.”
Pacquiao who suffered a nasty gash in his first fight against Erik “El Terrible” Morales because of an accidental clash of heads and had to receive 23 stitches on his right eyebrow after his last fight with Marquez, his doctor in Los Angeles said he wanted to check out the cut even before allowing Pacquiao to begin sparring for his next fight.
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