Arum moving Pacquiao to CBS/Showtime won’t change anything – Manny’s still fighting Mosley

By Chris Williams: It doesn’t really matter to me that Bob Arum has decided to move Manny Pacquiao, Miguel Cotto and however many of his Top Rank stable fighters to CBS/Showtime away from HBO. The last time I checked, Pacquiao is still facing 39-year-old Shane Mosley and that is still an awful fight in my mind. Whether it’s shown on HBO or Showtime, it’s still a bad fight. It’s just a change of scenery, that’s all.

The price for the pay-per-view card will probably be just the same and there’s no real benefit to you and me other than it’s being shown on Showtime. This is really about Pacquiao and Cotto, because I can’t see boxing fans paying too much attention to Arum’s other Top Rank stable fighters – Antonio Margarito, Yuri Foreman, Joshua Clottey, ..etc – being moved to Showtime as well. I’m sure some of those fighters will still be shown on HBO. It’s Pacquiao and Cotto that boxing fans will really care about, and neither of those guys will be around for too much longer.

Pacquiao supposedly has three years left in his career, and Cotto, who knows? Cotto can go at any time if he starts taking losses all of a sudden. But if Arum is still going to be putting Pacquiao in with his stable fighters Clottey, Margarito and Cotto, then I think HBO will be better off without Pacquiao, because those aren’t competitive fights and it’s really distasteful to have to pay $50+ to watch Pacquiao face over-matched opposition each time out. Boxing fans want to see competitive fights and the fights with Clottey, Margarito and Cotto have been one-sided mismatches going in the door. The same with the Mosley fight. That’s even worse. Mosley looks totally shot. I don’t think boxing fans are going to be all broken up about Pacquiao being moved to CBS/Showtime.

They won’t care unless Arum starts matching Pacquiao up with better fighters for a change. I would be happy if Arum put Pacquiao in with the winner of the Timothy Bradley vs. Devon Alexander, but I wouldn’t be happy if they’re forced to come up to the welterweight division to face Manny. I would prefer Pacquiao finally face Juan Manuel Marquez or Andre Berto instead. I also want to see Pacquiao fight Sergio Martinez, but at a reasonable catch weight.