Has Manny Pacquiao Run Out of Opponents?
By Ken Hissner, Doghouse Boxing (May 10, 2011) Doghouse Boxing (Photo © German Villasenor, Doghouse Boxing)
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Pacquiao lands punch on Mosley at MGM
With Manny Pacquiao’s latest title defense of his WBO welterweight title against “Sugar” Shane Mosley this past weekend he may be in a position similar Muhammad Ali found himself. Who’s left to defend against? Unification has never been Top Rank’s strong point. Is it why give money to four organizations instead of one? If that’s the case than possibly three of the better fighters in the world holding organization titles may never fight Pacquiao. How many times are Mayorga, Margarito, Cotto or Mosley getting title bouts?

Top Rank is looking for an opponent for November for their No. 1 fighter in Pacquiao. Could a tournament of some nature bring about the best possible opponent? It’s gotten so bad the front runners are from the division below at light welterweights!

It seems WBC champion Victor Ortiz, 29-2-2 (22), has qualified to be the “opponent” for Floyd Mayweather, Jr., 41-0 (25), and will meet September 17th at Cowboy Stadium in Arlington, TX. The WBC has kept Mayweather as their No. 1 contender while the other three organizations except the IBO have dropped him from their ratings. Even Ring Magazine withdrew his name last week. Two fights since 2007 will do that. It’s been little over a year since he defeated Mosley in his last fight. It’s been said he can’t keep out of jail long enough to depend on. Ever heard of work release? Ortiz lost to Marcos Rene Maidana, 30-2 (27), in a war in 2009 and battled to a draw with Lamont Peterson, 28-1-1 (14) in December. Neither fighter got a rematch with Ortiz.

The two other organization champions are not known to the boxing world outside of Europe. Jan Zaveck, 30-1 (18), of Slovenia is the IBF champion who won the title in South Africa in 2009 and has defended it three times in his home country though living in Germany where 90% of his fights were. His top ranked contender is former WBO light welterweight champion Randall Bailey, 41-7 (36), though Zaveck has no fight scheduled.

Vyacheslv Senchenko, 31-0 (21), of the Ukraine holds the WBA title and defends his title in the Ukraine in August just one year shy of his last bout. He won the title in 2009 and has made two defenses and has only fought out of the Ukraine on three occasions. His opponent is Marco Avendano of Venenzuela who is No. 10 and his last two opponents combined records are 0-11. I guess the WBA doesn’t believe in mandatory defenses with interim champion Souleymane Mbaye, 39-3-1 (21), of France, the former WBA light welterweight champion waiting for his shot.

It doesn’t seem very likely unseen by American viewers Zaveck or Senchenko would be accepted unless they possibly had a unification bout or beat a known boxer in the US market. The other prospects are all from the lower division.

Amir Kahn, 25-1 (17), of the UK who is the WBA champion, on July 23rd will meet Timothy Bradley, 27-0 (11) who holds the WBC and WBO titles. The winner of this fight will be in the running I’m sure. The other champion in that division is IBF champion Zab Judah, 41-6 (28) whose also been mentioned and is the former IBF, WBA and WBC welterweight champion.

Other possibilities who could end up in a elimination bout that do not hold interim or world titles are Philadelphia’s Mike “MJ” Jones, 24-0 (18), who is No. 1 WBO, No. 2 WBA, No. 3 IBF and No. 4 WBC contender while holding the NABA, WBO NABO and WBC Continental Americas titles. European champ Selcuk Aydin, 21-0 (15), the Turk who fights out of Germany is ranked No. 2 by the WBC and holds the WBC Silver title. He defeated another top hope in Romania’s Ionut Dan Ion, 28-1 (15), fighting out of Canada by split decision in Turkey in 2010. British champion Kell Brook, 23-0 (16), is the No. 2 WBO contender and their Intercontinental champ.

Brad Solomon, 17-0 (8), is the No. 1 WBA contender and their International champ. There’s even talk out of the Juan Manuel Marquez, 52-5-1 (38), camp that their WBO and Super WBA lightweight champion would like a third fight with Pacquiao. They first met in 2004 and fought to a draw as featherweights. In 2008 they were re-matched with Pacquiao taking a split decision. Now if they fight every four years they shouldn’t get it on until 2012 right? In 2009 Marquez went over 135 for the first time going up to 142 losing to Mayweather with the closest score by a judge calling it by nine points for Mayweather.

Best bet seems like Ortiz whether he fights Mayweather or not. Pacquiao and Top Rank are in no hurry to fight Mayweater since he has kept them waiting time and time again. Let him EARN it!

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