Shane Mosley
SHANE MORE LIKELY TO MAKE A STAND THAN TO FALL EARLY
New York, NY– This weekend will showcase what will be undoubtedly the biggest match up of the year, when Manny Pacquiao (53-3-2 38 KOs) faces “Sugar Shane” Mosley (46-6-1 39 KOs) in Las Vegas. This matchup will feature two legends although ‘on paper’ there will be a huge gap in ability. Although I may be playing a little devils advocate here, I believe many in the media are dead wrong if they think that Manny will easily cut through Mosley like a hot knife through butter. I’m not saying Mosley should be the favorite but I do believe that he will bring it, despite being the elder statesman and make this match competitive for as long as it lasts.
MOSLEY HAS NOT LOOKED AS BAD AS PEOPLE SAY
Mosley is the same fighter he has always been. He’s never looked good against slick boxers and he’s always excelled against brawlers. Pacquiao isn’t a typical Mosley opponent in this sense, but he will provide openings that Mosley can exploit if he lands. Let’s remember that in Mosley’s last two performances, he lost a lopsided decision to an undefeated pure boxer in Floyd Mayweather Jr. (41-0 25 KOs) and followed that by earning a disputable draw against a slick and naturally bigger Sergio Mora (22-2-2 6 KOs). I would challenge anyone to produce solid evidence that those outcomes would have been much different had Mosley been in his prime.
SHANE’S BEEN THE UNDERDOG MORE THAN ONCE
A lot of people are acting like Shane Mosley recently got knocked out by feather-fisted Paulie Malignaggi, or took a standing eight against Steve Forbes in his recent performances. Mosley has only been exposed as an inferior boxer, not as a shot has been who’s unable to compete. It was just a few fights back that he went in under similar circumstances as an underdog against Antonio Margarito and shocked us all by knocking him out. It was the first knockout Margarito suffered and I’ll also note that Pacquiao wasn’t able to duplicate the feat. Again, I’m not saying he should be the favorite, but he’s not ‘Glass Joe’.
ONE SIDED BEATDOWN WILL INSTEAD BE A FIGHT!
In conclusion, I won’t advise anyone to bet against Pacquiao, but I also won’t expect a quick execution. Because we’ve seen that even a slightly frozen Margarito and a self contained Joshua Clottey were able to touch up Manny enough to make those fights competitive enough to last 12 rounds. If Manny easily knocks out Mosley, it could only mean that he’s getting better, which is just a bit more outrageous than anyone assuming that Mosley has the same chance as some bantamweight amateur boxer.
Jarrad Woods