Pacquiao’s next foe known soon

MANILA, Philippines – Top Rank chief Bob Arum is raring to arrange Manny Pacquiao’s next fight, hoping to start promoting it by early next year.

Arum has penciled April 12 for Pacquiao’s ring return, with the MGM Grand in Las Vegas as the venue.

It will be one of the following: a fifth fight with archrival Juan Manuel Marquez, a rematch with WBO welterweight champion Timothy Bradley, or a duel with WBO light welterweight boss Ruslan Provodnikov.

Provodnikov, a Russian, belongs to Freddie Roach’s stable of fighters and was Pacquiao’s former sparring partner. Although Roach has gone on record that he prefers not to pit his two prized wards against each other, Arum insists Provodnikov is in the radar for Pacquiao.

"It'll be one of those guys," Arum told ESPN.com’s Dan Rafael.

The octogenarian promoter added everything could be finalized within this year.

"We're gonna get it done sometime this month I hope. I want to start promoting it. What we're hoping to do is get Manny over here in January to do press conferences for the fight and also to do rallies in places like Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Washington, D.C., for relief for the victims of the typhoon in the Philippines," he explained.

Pacquiao is coming off an impressive victory over Brandon Rios at the Cotai Arena in Macau last Nov. 24 to return to his winning ways. He has refused to call out anyone he prefers to fight next, insisting it is up to Arum.