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Since Bob Arum always likes to make great, bold statements about what Golden Boy will do with Floyd Mayweather (he's whiffed thus far on predictions of Erik Morales and Robert Guerrero facing Floyd on May 5), Richard Schaefer has decided to make his picks on what Arum plans to do with his top fighters in the near future:
"What Bob wants to do is have Pacquiao fight Timothy Bradley, and he wants Juan Manuel Marquez to fight Peterson, and he wants Cotto to fight Chavez Jr. ... Let's just say that I have my sources that he wants to have Pacquiao fight Bradley. I have my sources. End of story."
My favorite thing about Richard Schaefer is the way he always repeats things like he's Jimmy Two Times. Later he says, "We're working diligently. I'm working diligently with the Money Team, and you know, we'll see."
"We'll see" is another Schaefer staple.
Anyway, none of the fights are exactly shockers, and at least his predictions seem within the realm of reality, unlike Arum's nutty Morales pick. Even Robert Guerrero had a PR guy banging on the doors of every boxing media member for two months.
Todd duBoef said yesterday that Top Rank is considering matching Miguel Cotto with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr in July if Cotto isn't chosen to face Manny Pacquiao in June. It's a money fight for Top Rank and both fighters, and almost happened back in December 2010, but Cotto took some time off instead to deal with a minor shoulder injury.
Marquez seems at least a little bit interested in fighting Lamont Peterson, too. In a Q&A with Lem Satterfield, Marquez said Peterson would be a "great" potential opponent for him if he doesn't land the Pacquiao fight.
As for Pacquiao vs Bradley, I think that would take some pushing from someone other than Manny himself. Or at least that would seem to be the feeling so far. If this were a political race to face Pacquiao in June, I think right now the leaders are, in order, Cotto, Marquez, Bradley and Peterson.
But there is one big thing that could put Bradley ahead of Marquez: Gate money. Since Marquez refuses to fight Pacquiao in Nevada again, that means no big Vegas gate. That probably means going to Texas, where Pacquiao drew mediocre numbers (for him) against Joshua Clottey and Antonio Margarito, because you simply can't charge the same type of money for a ticket in Texas that you can in Las Vegas. Bradley would fight Pacquiao in Vegas, and the fight would be worth more money at the gate -- a lot more. About as bad as that could really do is $8 million at the gate, and about as well as Pacquiao vs Marquez IV could do in Texas is $5-6 million. And I don't know that there's a significant enough difference in potential PPV interest to make up for that anymore.