Pacquiao could be in for a punching picnic

So who’s afraid of Timothy Bradley, the reigning and allegedly undefeated World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight champion?

Definitely not Juan Manuel Marquez, the sensational Mexican boxing hero who toppled Manny Pacquiao from the top of the world best pound-for-pound list with a cold-blooded KO coup last December.

In fact, Marquez did not have to be goaded into agreeing to fight Bradley. Marquez readily agreed to a meeting with Bradley when the two boxers got together at ringside with premier promoter Bob Arum in Las Vegas recently.

Arum yesterday said both fighters have signed the contract for the fight, set in September but which could be moved later depending on looming hassles in the boxing calendar.

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Manny Pacquiao? If he had anything to fear about Bradley, it was in the way the WBO welterweight king has gotten in the way of Manny’s much-sought fifth encounter with Marquez.

Now, with the Marquez-Bradley fight officially on, Pacquiao takes on the unlikely role of a bystander.

Nothing exactly wrong or truly humbling as far as being made to wait outside the gate while they party up there in his former kingdom.

What’s rather unnerving was the way Pacquiao has been treated like a disposable commodity.

First, they said the Pacman would see action again in September, then it was moved to October the other day.

Yesterday, veteran fight chronicler Nick Giongco said Bob Arum has decided to put up the next Pacquiao fight in November.

Pray it doesn’t end up on Dec. 8, or it could be the nightmare anniversary of Pacquiao’s fall in the hands of Marquez last year.

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Anyway, no need for one to be a boxing expert to smell what Bob Arum is up to this time.

What we all see here, the smoke signals and unexpected deviations show the trail leads to the Big One.

What we have is clearly, if not brightly, the priming of Marquez-Pacquiao V next year.

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Whether he returns on All Saints Day or the Feast of the Immaculate Concepcion, Pacquiao should be pitted either against Brandon Rios or world light welterweight king Mike Alvarado, not necessarily in that order.

Last heard, the 32-year-old Alvarado has taken the pole post in the race to fight Pacquiao.

For one, a Pacquiao-Alvarado fight  promises to be a first-rate clash between two rabid fire-bomb throwers.

Based on their respective thunderous, slashing styles, the bout would be lucky to last the distance, a surefire thriller even before the contracts are signed.

These are warriors never known to take a step back in combat.

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Looking closer, this could be a reward, a punching picnic that Pacquiao has been yearning for after being frustrated twice in a row by calculating tactical foes who had refused to fight the kamikaze way.

With his patented stormy style, it could indeed be a walk in the park for the Filipino boxing superhero.

But one word of caution. In his last fight, Pacquiao was decked by what had looked like a routine hook to the head in the third round by Marquez, before being stopped cold in the sixth.

Did it mean the years have also eaten into the durability of the 34-year-old Pacquiao?

If so, will Freddie Roach be ready and willing to address the issue?

Can Roach, for one, teach Pacquiao to take a step back and duck the cruel years this time?