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By Jim Dower: According to the LA Times, World Boxing Organization welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao’s promotional team Top Rank is looking to put Pacquiao in with one of the following fighters in his next fight: Edwin Valero, Antonio Margarito or Juan Manuel Marquez. They also have mild hope that undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr. will come around to the negotiating table, but no one is counting on that happening. For Mayweather to fight Pacquiao, he will probably have to drop his desire to have Pacquiao take the Olympic style random blood tests that Mayweather has been insisting on.

That doesn’t look like it’s going to happen. Mayweather might have missed his chance at getting Pacquiao to take blood tests when he failed to accept what was offered by Pacquiao’s team during their negotiations when they offered the blood testing to be stopped at 24 days before their planned March 13th fight at the Dallas Cowboy Stadium.

Margarito fights on May 8th in Mexico against Carson Jones. However, Bob Arum of Top Rank would like to have him fight at the Dallas Cowboy Stadium in his next fight after that. A fight between Margarito and Pacquiao would be huge at the Dallas Cowboy stadium due to the large amount of Mexican fans that would go there to see the fight. If a fight between a relatively unknown Clottey brings in 50,000 fans at the Cowboy stadium, then a fight between Margarito, who is popular in Texas and Mexico, would be much bigger, and they could see crowds of 70,000+ with that kind of popularity.

A fight between WBC lightweight champion Valero (27-0, 27 KO’s) wouldn’t be as popular because Valero doesn’t have a huge fan base in Mexico at this time and isn’t well known yet in the U.S. For a fight with him to generate more fan interest, Valero is going to have to fight at least two more times on U.S. television so that a wider amount of fans get to see him. However, it would be a great fight if they choose to match Pacquiao against the knockout artist Valero.

Juan Manuel Marquez (50-5-1, 37 KO’s) has been waiting for a third fight with Pacquiao since losing a controversial 12 round split decision to Pacquiao in March 2008. Some boxing fans felt that Marquez should have been given the decision in that fight. If Marquez can look as good as he did in 2008, he could beat Pacquiao. However, it’s doubtful because Marquez looked poor recently in fighting Maywweather at welterweight and if Marquez wants to fight Pacquiao for a third time, it will probbaly have to be at welterweight or not at all.

Ideally, the best fight of all would be the winner of the May 1st bout between Shane Mosley and Mayweather should be Pacquiao’s next fight. If it’s Mosley who emerges on top in that fight, then it probably will be Mosley that Pacquiao fights next. However, most people figure that Mayweather will win the fight, and trying to put together a fight between Mayweather and Pacquiao prove impossible to due.

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