Despite having won titles in both the welterweight (147 pounds) and jr. middleweight (154 pounds) divisions, scoring impressive and dominant wins over the likes of Miguel Cotto, Antonio Margarito, Joshua Clottey and Oscar De La Hoya, pound-for-pound champion Manny Pacquiao still insists that jr. welterweight (140 pounds) is the division that he feels most comfortable at. "Actually, my natural division is 140 because I'm weighing right now 143, 144, without reducing, you know, without limiting eating. But I can fight at 147," the future Hall of Famer revealed during a recent interview.
Speaking to the On The Ropes Boxing Radio show, Pacquiao sounded as if it would be no problem whatsoever to make the 140-pound weight limit of the jr. welterweight division, revealing that he's currently weighing roughly 144 pounds with 4 weeks left to go until his highly-anticipated showdown with "Sugar" Shane Mosley. Of course, if Pacquiao's believes that jr. welterweight is his natural division, one has to wonder why his own promoter, Bob Arum, has insisted, time and time again, that a third bout with lightweight king Juan Manuel Marquez would have to take place at 147 pounds. Assuming Pacquiao is victorious against Mosley, will Arum stand firm on his statement that "Pacquiao vs. Marquez will be at 147 or no fight" or will Pacquiao's own revelation open up the opportunity for that fight, as well as others, to take place in a division that's closer to both men's natural weight?