I'm not clamoring for a PAC-PBF anymore

[CFH]

Pacquiao's opposition at 147 hasn't been great and the division has been relatively mediocre for a while now, but he's consistently fought the best fighters available (Mayweather aside) and has never ducked anyone.

Give me a break. Clottey, ODLH, Margacheato, Mosley right after getting his ass beat by Floyd? These were not the "best fighters available" at the time of those fights. Go check your back-issues of the Ring, or whatever your favorite ratings are. This is a fact.

Cotto and Clottey (surprisingly) are the most legit fights of Manny's WW run. And that's a Cotto that at least half the fans and commentators were calling shot at the time (which is true -- he's obviously never been the fighter he was before he got pounded with plaster for 10 1/2 rounds).

It's not for nothing that loads of people were angry when the Marg and Mosley fights got made because they were clear mismatches against completely unworthy opponents. (The Margarito match is the worst offender of them all -- no way you can defend that one.)

I'm not saying, Cotto aside, that any of them were great opponents, only that, unless Pacquiao was going to fight Mayweather, there wasn't anyone better available. Ortiz, who despite beating Berto is not a great fighter, had his reputation in tatters and was still at 140 and Berto, while a legit Welter, was viewed similarly. People, myself included, criticised the Margarito and Mosley fights because we wanted to see Pacquiao fight Mayweather, but he choice of opposition was pretty limited at 147. To be honest, I think he would have been better off dropping to 140 and taking on the best of that division, but he didn't do that.

Who would have been better for Pacquiao at 147? Because he would have been as criticized for fighting the two guys you listed as he was for fighting Margarito, Mosley, and Clottey. Maybe Paul Williams, but nobody was jumping to fight him at that point.