Reports out of Denver this evening say that Mike Alvarado is likely to be the next opponent for Manny Pacquiao.

CBS4's Vic Lombardi tweeted earlier:

In other news, just got word Denver's own @MileHighMike303 has agreed to fight Manny Pacquaio in October!!!!!! Alvarado and his manager Henry Delgado are flying out to negotiate a contract tomorrow. Alvarado-Pacquaio in October. I asked Delgado about Alvarado-Rios III. He said that can wait. This is Manny Freaking Pacquaio.

Later in the evening, Brandon Spano of Mile High Sports said on his radio show that the fight is "90-95% a done deal," which he says came from Delgado.

Alvarado (34-1, 23 KO) is coming off of a 12-round decision win over Brandon Rios on March 30, a Fight of the Year contender that followed their excellent 2012 bout, which Rios won by stoppage. Pacquiao (54-5-2, 38 KO) went 0-2 in 2012, but his loss to Timothy Bradley was disputed at best, though the knockout loss to Juan Manuel Marquez is not.

This does not mean that Pacquiao-Alvarado is definite or anything -- Bradley and Marquez are still options, with Marquez having missed his own April 15 deadline of announcing a next fight. He's said repeatedly he doesn't want to face Pacquiao again, but there's so much money there that until that's officially off the table, that's what people are likely going to expect.

If this is the fight that gets done, are you in favor of the Pacquiao-Alvarado matchup? And can Alvarado take that step into superstardom by beating the man who is still probably the world's most famous active fighter?