Who Will Manny Pacquiao Face Next?

Manny Pacquiao dominated his previous two opponents in the ring, though not many of us expected him to. In both fights he fought in weight classes that he has never before fought in professionally in his career. The more recent of the two fights saw him crush a legend and completely shut down a fighter who we thought was only fighting Pacquiao because of how much smaller he was. Now that Pacquiao is unarguably boxing's pound for pound king, and has proven that he can fight at welterweight, it will be very interesting to see who his next opponent will be.

After reading numerous articles on boxing, I've learned that there have been talks about a possible return of the previous pound for pound champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. A fight with Pacquiao is the only fight that I could imagine him returning for. None of the other fighters who have shined while Mayweather has been retired are as worthy as Manny Pacquiao. Even though he isn't as tall as Antonio Margarito or as bulky as Miguel Cotto, Pacquiao has that smothering style that can put the kind of pressure on Mayweather Jr. that boxing experts have been constantly saying could beat him. Pacquiao has the hand speed as well as the power, but he also has never fought a fighter like Mayweather, who like water, seems to be able to change his form to fit and defeat whoever they put him in the ring with. This is a fight that most boxing fans would love to see in 2009.

Though fight fans would really like to see Pacquiao vs. Mayweather Jr., the opponent that Pacquiao is more likely to face off with next is Ricky Hatton. Ricky Hatton is a relentless boxer who likes the rough up his opponents in the ring. With a stunning professional record of 45-1 and his only professional defeat coming at the hands of none other than Floyd Mayweather Jr. this would be a good challenge for Pacquiao. With Floyd Sr. as Hatton's new trainer, things could get interesting. Both Hatton and Pacquiao have pretty good hand speed as well as power. Manny Pacquiao would also be a very good test for Ricky Hatton. Even though there have been some talks about a possible rematch between Hatton and Mayweather Jr. a fight between Pacquiao and Hatton is more likely to actually go down.

Regardless of whom Manny Pacquiao's next opponent will be, fight fans are definitely looking forward to seeing him fight against some more popular boxers. It's not that Pacquiao hasn't really fought against any notable fighters because he definitely has fought against some very worthy opponents. Other than Bernard Hopkins, he is the only fighter ever to stop Oscar De La Hoya and he actually did it more decisively. We look forward to many more exciting fights and definitely anticipate Pacquiao's next bout.