Bob Arum in Manila to plan next Pacquiao fight

Boxing promoter Bob Arum arrived earlier this morning in Manila with only one thing on his agenda: finalizing Manny Pacquiao's next opponent. The controversial founder and CEO of Top Rank plans to present to the Pacman a list of opponents for a tentative June match, a list that includes Miguel Cotto, Lamont Peterson, Tim Bradley, and Juan Manuel Marquez. Conspicuously absent from that line-up is Floyd Mayweather Jr., despite a judge's ruling that will delay Mayweather's 90-day jail term until June, freeing him up to push through with his May 5 match against an as of yet undetermined opponent. Still, Arum is optimistic that the Pacquiao-Mayweather bout will finally get off the ground later this year, telling reporters at NAIA, "It could possibly happen and I certainly believe that it will happen this year. Now it may very well be that Mayweather's plans will be to take a fight against somebody else on May 5, and then serve his time in prison and then be ready to fight Manny in November. In which case, Manny would fight somebody probably in June and then be ready to fight Mayweather in November." Should the bout between the two boxing icons push through, it is expected to occur in Las Vegas, at the vacant lot where the former Frontier Hotel used to stand, where a temporary stadium will have to be erected for the purpose of the fight. Arum also shrugged off recent tweets from Oscar De La Hoya, president of Golden Boy Promotions, describing De La Hoya as "not credible." Since this past weekend, De La Hoya has been issuing tweets alleging that Arum does not want Pacquiao-Mayweather to see the light of day. De La Hoya wrote "Lets play 'what's the excuse this time Bob Arum'" and "My respects to Dan Rafael for exposing Bob Arum on not wanting to make big fight happen." Dan Rafael, a columnist for ESPN, recently wrote a piece entitled "Blame Arum for no Pac-Floyd fight." Arum hopes to leave the country on Saturday with Pacquiao's next opponent decided upon. -- Adrian Dy/OMG, GMA News