Manny Pacquiao’s big fight with Floyd Mayweather looks like one of those things that just won’t happen. Forget about the happening-or-not negotiations. Mayweather will begin his jail sentence this week, and for Pacquiao this must surely mean finding another boxer to fight.

Floyd Mayweather’s legal problems are long, almost endless. His problems don’t end with his 90 day jail sentence for pleading guilty to a misdemeanor battery domestic violence case. Yesterday, his attorneys completed the second part of the plea deal, to one Mayweather pleaded no contest, resulting in a fine of  $1000 for a scuffle with a security guard back in November 2010.

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More? There’s the defamation lawsuit between Pacquiao and Mayweather, pending in federal court. Mayweather suggested he suspects Manny Pacquiao has been using performance enhancing drugs, something that always comes up after Pacquiao beats a bigger fighter or moved up the division ladder. He’s never been found positive in a test, and the timing of the blood testing and their style (boxing regulations or Olympic regulations) caused the previous Mayweather-Pacquiao talks to collapse.

More? Finally, Mayweather is facing a civil lawsuit, again in Las Vegas, from two men who claim Mayweather organized a shooting attack on them back in 2009. The Police have never accused Mayweather of the crime and he has never been criminally charged for the incident.

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All the presumptions whether Mayweather wants to fight Pacquiao or not just flew out the window since December 21. They don’t matter anymore. Even if Mayweather gets a couple of weeks off for good behavior, he’s not going to be ready, we assume, to fight Manny Pacquiao on May 5, the date reserved by Mayweather’s camp for a big fight.

Oscar De La Hoya was taped trashing Bob Arum this week, not just because of the whole sage between the two Welterweight, but because of Arum’s reluctance to sit down and close deals regarding fighters from both promotion companies. De La Hoya said that Arum was simply bad for boxing, and he hopes he’s out of the sport soon so they can make the big fights happen.

Bob Arum, who never really seemed to want to close the deal between Pacquiao and Mayweather. He’s now free to pursue the Pacquiao-Marquez IV fight he’s wanted so much. Juan Manuel Marquez himself said he’s willing to postpone another fight with Manny Pacquiao to November 2012, making way for the Mayweather-Pacquiao bout. Now, the deck has be re-shuffled.

According to Freddie Roach, Manny Pacquiao’s trainer, Arum has a shortlist of four fighters for Pacquiao to fight next – The fourth Juan Manuel Marquez fight, going against Light Welterweights Timothy Bradley or Lamont Peterson and another rematch option, Junior Middleweight champion, Miguel Cotto.

Cotto means big business, same as Marquez. But Pacquiao destroyed Cotto in their November 2009 fight, and besides money, there’s no buzz for this fight. Both fighters have a big following, but Cotto is clearly not in the same class. As for Peterson, I think he knows not jump head first into the shallows. I think he’d rather fight Bradley or Khan, both rematches, before he moves himself up into uncharted territory.

The Bradley option is an interesting one, with Bradley obviously wanting this fight. Being a Top Rank fighter will make it an easy fight to make, but he hasn’t proven himself to be the class of the Light-Welterweight division, and doesn’t deserve a shot, yet, at someone like Manny Pacquiao.

The truly great option, although off the table, is Sergio Martinez, but that just won’t happen. Too bad for us.