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The announcement of this fight has baffled boxing fans worldwide. According to Bob Arum, president of Top Rank, “Sugar” Shane Mosley was the best option out of the three possible fighters available to Manny Pacquiao: Mosley, Juan Manuel Marquez and Andre Berto.
But does this selection make sense?
It does if you think that Mosley will pacify those critics who say Manny Pacquiao hasn’t fought any African-American contenders. Also, this fight serves as further evidence that a battle is going on between Golden Boy Promotions and Top Rank.
Mosley, who was one of the founding partners of Golden Boy Promotions, split with them because he was upset about not being pushed out front as the most viable opponent over Juan Manuel Marquez.
Golden Boy has Marquez under promotional contract, and was pushing to have the long-awaited Pacquiao vs. Marquez III. Instead, we have the lackluster Pacquiao vs. Mosley bout.
Manny Pacquiao’s advisor Michael Koncz even admitted to the media that the fight would only be competitive for five rounds. Which, I believe, is giving way too much credit to Shane Mosley; he will be out of breath and out of ideas by the third round.
At 39 years of age, Shane Mosley is way past his prime and has not produced an exciting boxing match in years. Mosley’s last two bouts have been horrible and he has shown all the signs of an aging fighter. In his clash with Floyd Mayweather Jr. we saw his lack of strength and stamina. Then you have his fight with Sergio Mora which was hard to watch and boring. During that contest there were more people booing than cheering.
Pacquiao hasn’t acknowledged any special focus on this fight. Even Freddy Roach told ESPN news that his fighter is in the best shape of his career, which should scare Mosley.
Fans know that Mosley is at his best when he is faced with an aggressive straight ahead type of opponent. He prefers the type of opponent who tries to assault him head on such as Antonio Margarito. But, everyone knows that is not what he will get with Manny.
The only real reasons to purchase this card will not come from the main event, instead fans will be treated to a fairly good undercard that may just entice them to reconsider and purchase the card for $54.99.
