Arum, 82, outlined an initial list of three of his own fighters, but also wants to open talks with Oscar De La Hoya to see which contenders from his Golden Boy stable would be available for the date in question.
It’s no secret that Juan Manuel Marquez is Arum’s first choice as the Top Rank promoter told World Boxing News previously, with a meeting set in for this Thursday in New York which will give the Mexican first refusal.
If Marquez turns down a fifth fight with Pacquiao, Arum will then turn to his alternatives to nail down another high-profile title defence for the reigning WBO welterweight champion.
“Manny has a number of options for fighting in November, on the 22nd and we will announce shortly who he is going to be fighting,” Arum explained to me over the phone this week. “Whether it’s Marquez or somebody else will become clear in the next couple of weeks.
“There are plenty of names,” continued Arum. “Ruslan Provodnikov is on the list. Carlos Abregu, the Argentinian welterweight is on the list. Those are two of the principle names, and then we have to see how many Golden Boy fighters would be available for the fight and that will become clear in the next week or so.”
Saul Alvarez has already been ruled out for the Pacquiao fight by Arum as it is too soon after his July clash with Erislandy Lara, but the likes of Danny Garcia, Keith Thurman, Marcos Maidana and the winners of Robert Guerrero v Yoshihiro Kamegai and Devon Alexander v Jesus Soto Karass this month could well be added to the list.
The recent split involving Golden Boy and Richard Schaefer, along with the involvement of Al Haymon could be factors to decide who is available for Pacquiao, with Arum hoping to have everything settled for November by the end of this month.
Follow on Twitter @PhilDJay for tweets of upcoming news on WBN
