MANILA, Philippines—There’s no official announcement yet, but recent developments point to Manny Pacquiao taking on unbeaten American Timothy Bradley in his next fight.
Bradley, the World Boxing Organization light welterweight champion, further boosted his stock for the megabuck bout with Pacquiao when Floyd Mayweather Jr. announced Wednesday (Thursday) that he’ll be going after Miguel Cotto’s World Boxing Association super welterweight (154 pounds) crown on May 5 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
In effect, Mayweather shut the door on a collision with pound-for-pound rival Pacquiao proposed for the same date.
Cotto, on the other hand, dropped his bid to exact revenge on Pacquiao, who stopped him in the 12th round in 2009.
Having an inkling that Mayweather is once again ducking him, Pacquiao announced on a television interview Wednesday night that Bradley is likely to be his next opponent.
Like Pacquiao, Bradley is also being promoted by Bob Arum’s Top Rank.
Two other candidates in the Pacquiao derby—Juan Manuel Marquez and Lamont Peterson—are being groomed for a July 14 fight at the Cowboys Stadium in Texas.
After being granted by the Nevada State Athletic Commission a one-fight license, Mayweather resumed his Twitter campaign against Pacquiao.
“I’m fighting Miguel Cotto on May 5th because Miss Pac Man is ducking me,” wrote Mayweather, who spoke with Pacquiao over the phone last month and offered a guaranteed $40 million to the Sarangani representative, sans a share of the pay-per-view buys.
Pacquiao, on the other hand, wanted a 50-50 split on all revenues.
Arum made a counteroffer of $45 million up front for Mayweather.
Pacquiao adviser Michael Koncz, who conferred with Mayweather several times, told the LA Times that Mayweather rejected a 55-45 percent sharing, with the bigger chunk going to the winner.
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