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Home » Bob Arum outlines his plans for Top Rank’s 140-147lb stars

Bob Arum outlines his plans for Top Rank’s 140-147lb stars

The first two parts of the trilogy were completed when Timothy Bradley out-pointed Juan Manuel Marquez at 147 and Ruslan Provodnikov stopped Mike Alvarado at 140 to claim the WBO title.

Arum has an embarrassment of riches between the two weight-classes and now has big plans for Bradley, Provodnikov and the winner of Pacquiao v Rios, with all three in line to fight each other at some point in 2014.

“This is the last of the three fights – Manny vs. Rios and a lot of it depends on who the winner of this fight will be,” explained Arum. “There are some fantastic matches that can be made next year with these fighters.

“Manny has unfinished business with Tim Bradley and that might be a good option if he beats Rios. If Rios wins, Ruslan Provodnikov or Bradley would be good opponents.

“Provodnikov versus Manny, if Manny wins, would be an intriguing kind of fight. And of course there is a revenge match-up between Manny, if Manny wins, and Juan Manuel Márquez, which would be very sellable with the Mexican-Americans – that are still heavily in Marquez’s corner – that would like to see that fight again.

“So let’s see how this fight goes on November 23rd and then I’m sure everyone will sit down and we’ll work out who Manny and Brandon will fight next.”

Pacquiao is one a run of two losses as he prepares to enter the ring against Rios, who himself lost out to Mike Alvarado the last time he stepped between the ropes. The victor can be sure of some more lucrative match-ups in 2014, although the winner would not necessarily be left on the scrap heap as there are potential match-ups with the losers of the first two.

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