Pacquiao vs. Cotto Rematch: Tired Rivalry Is Destined to Continue

Manny Pacquiao vs. Miguel Cotto is not the fight people want to see, but it is the one they are going to get. 

Through a process of elimination, Cotto has essentially won the right to fight the world's best pound-for-pound fighter. 

The problem is these two already fought, and there's no reason to get excited about seeing them fight again. 

The first fight was never close.  Pacquiao knocked Cotto down in the third and fourth rounds, and from that point on, Cotto did his best to go the distance, which didn't happen.

He was TKO'd in the 12th. 

Why Cotto

As The Philippine Star's Abac Cordero reported, Bob Arum presented Pac-Man with four names as possibilities for his next fight: Cotto, Juan Manuel Marquez, Tim Bradley and Lamont Peterson.

Cordero later reported that Pacquiao's wife Jinkee told the press that her husband preferred Cotto.

From that list of four, Cotto makes sense.  The public isn't ready for yet another rematch with Marquez. 

This would leave Marquez to fight Peterson, and Pac-Man could then take on that winner. 

Also, Cotto has a hot name right now.  He will raise more interest than the other three, and far more interest than Bradley, who has yet to capture the public's imagination. 

But these four fighters all pale in comparison to the one who hasn't been mentioned. 

Why Not Mayweather

Mayweather wants to fight on May 5.  Pacquiao wants to fight in early June. 

Neither of these two sides are into compromises, and Mayweather has to go to jail in June. 

There is little hope that these two sides will even be willing to try to work something out in time to make each other their next fight.

The possibility of this fight being the one after their next fight is far more realistic.  However, don't hold your breath for that one either. 

Something always comes up to keep this fight from happening.