Bob Arum says that he's anticipating Manny Pacquiao's decision on his next opponent just as much as the rest of us. Pacquiao has already been scheduled to go on April 9th in Las Vegas, but the person who will stand in the opposite corner has been a bit of a mystery. The good news is that after months of guesswork, shortlists, etc., we should finally have out answer by tomorrow.
"He's absolutely positive we'll have an answer by Friday," Arum said.
According to Arum, Pacquiao has just recently reviewed tapes on the three leading contenders to get the fight -- Terrance Crawford, Timothy Bradley, and Amir Khan -- and Arum insists that Pacquiao's decision will be one of his own choosing.
"I purposely kept myself out of it because at this point it doesn't matter who Manny picks," Arum said recently. "Would I prefer it not to be Khan? Yes, but this is Manny's last fight. I have a duty to him to present him all of the options. Do I hope he doesn't pick Khan though? Of course [because I don't promote him], but I don't think he will pick Khan. Khan was an option when we considered having this fight in April in the Middle East, so he was a guy on the table. Now the Middle East is not on the table, but he's still one of the guys on the table."
So despite Bob saying he won't influence Manny's decision, he's clearly been whispering "don't choose Khan" in his sweet nothings to his prize fighter. Odds are that Terence Crawford does wind up getting the fight, leaving Khan out in the cold once again, but we should know for certain soon enough.