Pacquiao eyes No. 8

FLOYD Mayweather Jr. only has until this Saturday (RP time) to accept the offer for a fight with pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao this year.

"We're ready to go on with the Mayweather fight," Arum said in a report posted on ESPN.com. "But we have to make contingency plans just in case and I don't really want to talk about that too much."

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After accusing Pacquiao of using steroids and of docking him, Mayweather Jr. changed tactics last month and said he was taking a year off boxing.

Arum, who said he wasn't taking Mayweather's words seriously, has given the boxer until July 16 to accept the deal.

"Mayweather has until the end of the week. He could wait until the last minute. If it's Friday and it's 11 p.m., and he says we have a deal, we have a deal."

However, if Mayweather Jr. won't accept the proposal, Top Rank big boss Bob Arum has a back-up plan: to pit his top fighter against either Miguel Cotto or Mexican banger Antonio Margarito.

"That's the fight (against Mayweather) we want and that's the fight we're in for, but if we can't do that fight, there are other opponents," said Arum.

Even if it won't be against Mayweather Jr., Pacquiao's next fight would still be a blockbuster since he could go for a record eighth division title against either Cotto or Margarito.

After losing to Pacquiao in the 147-pound division, Cotto came back successfully and beat Yuri Foreman to win the 154-pound belt.

Margarito, who also beat Cotto, beat in Roberto Garcia to win the WBC international 154-pound title. It was his first fight since getting banned for a year for using illegal hand wraps in a loss to Shane Mosely.

"Bob and I have spoken about both Cotto and Margarito and we will have a done deal and a signed contract for a fight by the end of this month," Pacquiao's adviser Michael Koncz said in the report.