Manny Pacquiao to choose final opponent soon; Tim Bradley the front-runner?

Manny Pacquiao is set to fight one final time, with April 9 the working date. But against whom will he ride off into the sunset?

The choice is Pacquiao's to make, and Bob Arum told Paste BN Sports on Saturday that a decision is imminent. The eight-division titleholder will select from Timothy Bradley, Terence Crawford and Amir Khan, but all signs are pointing to a rubber match with Bradley, who said he expects to discuss the bout with Top Rank later Saturday.

"I haven't got confirmation from Top Rank yet that Manny agreed to fight me, but I heard through social media that Pacquiao pretty much picked me to fight him," said Bradley, who is in Fresno, Calif., with Arum for Saturday's fight featuring 2012 Olympian Jose Ramirez. "I have spoken to Top Rank about rematching Pacquiao, discussed a few things, but nothing really solid just yet.

"But I have said I will fight Manny again. I agreed to it. But we haven't really talked any business yet."

The welterweights have squared off twice, with Bradley winning the first encounter - in 2012 - via highly controversial decision, and Pacquiao clearly upending him two years later. Bradley tore his calf in Round 2 of the second bout, and says it was "the difference in the fight."

QUILLIN: Never forgets where he came from

"You can't move," said Bradley, BoxingJunkie's No. 9 pound-for-pound fighter. "You can't do the things that you need to do. I felt that if i was 100%, if I hadn't torn the calf, I would have done a lot better."

Bradley (33-1-1, 19 KOs) also has a title after winning the WBO welterweight belt with a decision victory over Jessie Vargas in June, making any bout more enticing. The 32-year-old joined forces with Teddy Atlas following the win, and was fantastic in his last outing, a ninth-round knockout of Brandon Rios last month.

"I love it, I think it'd be great," Arum said of the possible matchup. "You have the Teddy Atlas element throw in, it makes for a real interesting event. Atlas has made him a much better fighter, I think, and that would be a really interesting fight. I would be happy to do it, but again, it's up to Manny, and he's running around with politics, but we should have an answer in the next day or so."

While Bradley owns a victory over the future Hall of Famer, it's far from a convincing one. Could Atlas be the man to engineer the upset? The pair seemed to gel together and Bradley looked better than ever, with his first knockout victory since 2011.

"Why not? It would be a good rubber match," Bradley said. "It's not like I need it. The first fight was good, second was even better, and I think this time around it would be even more appealing. … I think it would make a lot of sense. Why not have the rubber match and get a decisive victory over Manny Pacquiao?"

"Manny's a tough fighter, Teddy is a phenomenal trainer as you saw in my last fight. I just think he'll come up with a great game plan and strategy and I think we'd have a really good chance at competing with Manny."

(Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea, Paste BN Sports)