By John F. McKenna (McJack)
New WBA/IBF light welterweight champion Lamont Peterson (30-1-1, 15 KO’s) is being considered as a possible opponent for pound for pound king WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao (54-3-2, 38 KO’s). Now that “Pacman’s” hoped for Mega fight with undefeated WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. (42-0, 26 KO’s) has fallen through due to Floyd’s incarceration other options are being explored.
Even though Peterson’s victory over former WBA/IBF light welterweight champion Amir Khan (26-2, 18 KO’s) was controversial Peterson impressed a lot of people with his dogged determination. Lamont was given little chance to defeat the much quicker Khan, but he stuck to his game plan and demonstrated that he wanted the win more than Amir did.
Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach added Peterson’s name to the list of possible opponents for Manny after the fight with Mayweather fell through. Other possible opponents are Miguel Cotto and Timothy Bradley. There has also been some talk of matching up Pacquiao with WBO/WBA lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez (53-6-1, 39 KO’s) for a 4th time. Pacquiao won a highly controversial decision over Marquez on November 12.
It is thought by many however that another Pacquiao – Marquez fight would be pointless. The thinking is that a 4th fight would have similar results as the first 3 which all ended controversially with no clear cut winner. It also appears that the law of diminishing returns applies to Pacquiao and Marquez. Because of Marquez’ ability to time Pacquiao and his counter punching skills, each succeeding fight is less exciting than the one which preceded it. For that reason many boxing fans do not want to see a 4th fight between the two.
Peterson at 5’9” would have a decided height advantage over the 5’6” Pacquiao. In addition Peterson weighed 155 pounds when he entered the ring against Khan. Lamont also demonstrated against Amir that physically he is a very strong fighter on the inside.
Lamont’s strength was problematic for Khan later in the fight. It was clear that Khan underestimated Peterson and he wound up paying for it.
The newly resurgent WBA Super light middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (37-2, 30 KO’s) was thrust back into mix of potential opponents for Pacquiao when he TKO’d Antonio Margarito on December 3.
More than likely a decision will be made after the holidays as to who Manny’s next opponent will be when Top Rank CEO Bob Arum and Pacquiao confer in January.
