Pacquiao's future is in Top Rank, Golden Boy's hands
If Top Rank and Golden Boy don't settle over promotional rights to Manny Pacquiao, Bob Arum, who says Pacquiao wants to avenge his brother's loss, has plans for a Pacquiao-Humberto Soto bout.
Pacquiao, the junior lightweight star, is at the center of the battle between Top Rank and Golden Boy. He signed contracts with both of them and both companies claim his promotional rights, even though Pacquiao ultimately pledged his loyalty to Top Rank, fighting Jorge Solis under its banner April 14.
If the sides settle, Pacquiao's fall fight would undoubtedly be a major HBO PPV event against Golden Boy's Marco Antonio Barrera in a rematch of Pacquiao's 2003 knockout victory.
Barrera, who is here to support his buddy Ricky Hatton in Saturday night's fight against Jose Luis Castillo, told ESPN.com he wants to fight Pacquiao again before retiring at the end of this year.
However, if there is no settlement Arum said he will match Pacquiao with Humberto Soto, another Top Rank fighter and a top junior lightweight contender.
On June 9, Soto knocked out Bobby Pacquiao, Manny's brother, and he wants revenge, Arum told ESPN.com.
"Soto is who he would fight," Arum said. "It's a good fight. It's probably a better fight than Barrera, even though it's not as much money. But it's better than Barrera action-wise. Soto wants the fight like a kid wants ice cream, and Manny wants to avenge his brother's loss. That's what he told me. Manny said it's the perfect fight and that's what he wants, and that the fans will love it."
If it's Pacquiao-Soto, Arum said it would take place Oct. 6 in Vancouver, British Columbia, where there is a sizeable Filipino population. Arum said he is in talks with Showtime about the fight because without a Top Rank-Golden Boy settlement, he said HBO is leery of being involved.
Whomever Pacquiao fights in the fall, Arum wants to match exciting junior bantamweights Jorge Arce and Martin Castillo on the undercard.
"All I want to do is make good fights," Arum said. "That's all I want to do, and we're on a pretty good roll right now."
The last major fight in Vancouver? The 1972 rematch between Muhammad Ali and George Chuvalo. The promoter? Arum.
"There are a number of interesting fights if that happens," said Arum, who promotes Cotto and Margarito.
The two leading candidates in Arum's mind are titlist Kermit Cintron, who is promoted by Main Events and would need to retain his belt against Walter Matthysse on July 14, and rugged contender Joshua Clottey, who is with Arum.
"I don't mind doing either of those on HBO rather than HBO PPV," Arum said. "But the fight we would like to do is Shane Mosley [on HBO PPV]."
Mosley is a brutally difficult fight to make because of the issues between Top Rank and Golden Boy, although that burden could lighten if the companies settle their differences, which they are working on in mediation.
"The pay-per-view fight on Cotto's horizon would be Margarito in terms of the immediate future," Arum said. "There's also Williams, if he beats Margarito. It would depend on how he looks. If he wins an interesting fight with Margarito, a fight with Cotto would be intriguing."
One fight that he doesn't think will ever happen is one between Cotto and pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr. Arum is one of the few who believes Mayweather will stick to his word and not fight again.
"I don't see him fighting again unless Oscar [De La Hoya] fights him again," said Arum, who promoted Mayweather for virtually all of his career. "Floyd doesn't want to take risks. He doesn't want to get hurt. He doesn't want to fight someone and be lucky to do 200,000 buys [on pay-per-view after doing 2.15 million against De La Hoya]. Cotto and Mosley? Floyd ain't going to take those fights. It's a shame. And Oscar won't fight him again because he doesn't want to be humiliated [losing again]. The next time it would be worse."
Cotto is coming off a stirring 11th-round TKO of Zab Judah on June 9 at New York's Madison Square Garden. Top Rank will no longer officially release its pay-per-view numbers, but Arum said Cotto-Judah did "about 225,000 buys." Arum said he needed about 150,000 to break even.
"Sure I would have liked to do more, but I'm really satisfied because it was great promotion, the Garden was sold out, everyone is talking about the fight and the guy [Cotto] looked sensational," he said.
Now, Wlodarczyk is hoping for a rubber match.
"I think a third match is the only true way to prove who is better," Wlodarczyk said. "I won the first fight, he won the second. They were both very close and the fans enjoyed both fights. I know that if we fight again, we will not only settle our score once and for all, but we will give the fans a memorable and meaningful fight."
Seminole Warriors Boxing, Wlodarczyk's promoter, said it has made Cunningham's promoter, Don King, "a substantial offer" for a third fight.
It's not out of the question that it could happen, but Cunningham more likely is headed toward a September fight with recognized world champion Jean-Marc Mormeck, who is also promoted by King, in France.
"[Oleg] Maskaev, Sam Peter, Vitali Klitschko, it don't matter. I already knocked out Maskaev once, I wouldn't mind exposing Peter as all hype, and I could send Klitschko back into retirement. I just want my title shot and I'm gonna get my belt back." 
