For Manny Pacquiao, It's All Downward From Here

Where can Manny go from here?

He has absolutely dominated the welterweight class.

A pummeling of De La Hoya so bad he retired.

He annihilated Ricky Hatton.

A mugging of Cotto to the point where all Cotto could do was pedal backwards.

He beat a much bigger Joshua Clottey.

No steroids in the world can do what Manny does in the ring.

He's absolutely dominating world-class fighters.

Dare I say he should be spoken in the same breath as Roberto Duran, Sugar Ray Robinson, and Sugar Ray Leonard?

Absolutely.

He's in Cooperstown. He's one of the best.

So the question beckons—where can he go from here?

Downward I say?

Who else can he fight, other than Mayweather, at welterweight?

Alphonso Gomez?

Manny is just so much quicker than anyone else at welterweight. He needs to get in the ring with someone as quick to make things interesting.

I'm not sure he'd be willing to go all the way up to middleweight to fight a Paul Williams or Kelly Pavlik (although the Pavlik fight would be a major, major moneymaker.)

That leaves downward, which I think presents much more interesting possibilities for the Filipino sensation.

There's always Timothy Bradley, who may represent the best hope for actually giving Pacquiao a good fight. At light welterweight, it's not a stretch for Bradley to move up in class.

Bradley is one heck of a fighter and deserves a shot at notoriety.

You could mention Yuriorkis Gamboa, the 17-0 Cuban sensation who won gold at the 2004 Olympics. With 250 amateur fights, he has the experience to step in the ring with Manny.

Gamboa is a featherweight but is moving up. If he could reasonably get up to lightweight, I think Manny could meet him there.

I also think Gamboa is as quick as Manny and perhaps even more athletic.

Of course, everyone salivates at the prospect of an Edwin Valero-Manny Pacquiao fight.

Valero has been compared to Pacquiao at an earlier stage of his career. He's fast and as aggressive as a wolverine.

I think Manny would win, but it would be the most entertaining fight of the bunch.

I would absolutely love to see him fight his countryman Nonito Donaire. It won't happen because Donaire is so much smaller and fights at Super Bantamweight. But, wow, what a fight that would be.

If they held it in Manilla, the entire country would shut down.

Even Ali Funeka at lightweight is an intriguing match-up.

I doubt Manny will do down because it's never been done before.

But really, who else is there?

Retreads like Zab Judah or Antonio Margarito (whom I firmly believe doesn't deserve a shot after he was found cheating.)

One other point is that all of Manny's most competitive fights came at much lighter weight classes. Juan Manuel Marquez gave him all he could handle in two fights. His last loss was to Eric Morales. He fought wars with Marco Antonio Barrera.

I know I'm the exception that I like the smaller weight classes.

I like action, and there's action galore at lightweight and lighter.

I don't think Mayweather is going to step up to the plate, not after what Pacquiao did to Clottey. Who can blame him?

As good as Manny looks, he's at 30, the magical age when fighters begin to lose some of their skills. He might only want to be in the game for another 2-3 fights and then run for congress.

At any point.