With Manny Pacquiao likely to run for Congress in the Philippines and that providing a bit of an issue with negotiating a fight between himself and Floyd Mayweather Jr., other possibilities are starting to open up.
First off, Bob Arum told Ronnie Nathanielsz that Pacquiao may fight on March 13 after all:
Given [that Pacquiao is apparently running for Congress] Arum told BoxingScene.com, insidesports.ph, Standard Today and Viva Sports "what’s there to talk about" when asked for an update on his talks with Schaefer on a Mayweather fight.
Arum said "if worse comes to worse we’ll go back to the original plan for a March 13 fight" in which the new Dallas Cowboys billion dollar stadium is the likely venue.
Right now, March 13 is tentatively taken by the Roy Jones Jr.-Bernard Hopkins rematch in Las Vegas, though that could move, perhaps to April. It'd be tough to sell boxing fans on two major-priced PPVs in the month of March. Arum mentioned no possible opponents, but there would be plenty of guys happy to take the shot.
And then there's Mayweather, who is reportedly considering a tune-up fight in the United Kingdom. All things considered, if the Pacquiao fight simply can't be made due to Pacquiao's political interests and aspirations, and Shane Mosley is tied up with Andre Berto on January 30, Floyd probably doesn't want to sit around for months.
The troublesome part is the opponents being talked about. FightHype's Ben Thompson has a short list: Dmitriy Salita, Matthew Hatton and Carlos Quintana.
Quintana is a legit welterweight and a second-tier fighter at the weight, and he's the best option here. Salita is a non-contender at 140 pounds set to face Amir Khan on December 5. And Matthew Hatton, bless him, is just not anywhere even close to Mayweather's league. Matthew is a C+ fighter on his very best days. He went to a draw with an aged Lovemore N'dou this month, and N'dou looked as mediocre in that fight as I've ever seen him.
It's highly unlikely that there's really anything to this, but it's out there and going around.
If Mayweather does want to fight in the interim, there are a few opponents. Quintana wouldn't be the worst choice. Joshua Clottey's always out there, though if by some mini-miracle Mayweather was able to deal with Top Rank for a fight with Clottey, that could wind up on the worst fight of the year list. Both are fantastic fighters (on different levels), but generally need help being exciting.
Honestly, if he wants to go to the UK and stay sharp, I'd rather see him fight their prospect Kell Brook than Matthew Hatton or Dmitriy Salita. Brook would have just as much of a chance to win, if not more.