By William Mackay: If Manny Pacquiao (48-3-2, 36 KOs) defeats Ricky Hatton on May 2nd, we could very well be seeing Pacquiao take on World Boxing Association welterweight champion Shane Mosley (46-5, 39 KOs) in his next bout. Apparently, Pacquiao’s trainer, the great Freddie Roach, is all for it, calling it a “Great fight.” I don’t how he could even consider putting Pacquiao in with a fighter as big and as talented as Mosley, because this is a step too far for Pacquiao as far as I’m concerned.
Pacquiao will probably have his hands full with the 5’7″ Hatton, and that’s a huge step up for Pacquiao. True, Pacquiao already defeated a 5’11” Oscar De La Hoya by an 8th round stoppage in December, but De La Hoya was like a card board mannequin on that night and almost un-alive.
You can’t count a victory over someone who was seemingly so unfit to box on that night due to starving himself to make weight. Hatton will be a big step up for Pacquiao, and it will take all that Pacquiao has to defeat him. When you bring in a fighter two inches bigger than Hatton and three inches taller than Pacquiao at 5’9″, it puts Pacquiao at a tremendous disadvantage in the fight and almost in an unwinnable position.
Why, then, would Roach be so interested in Pacquiao making this fight? Mosley, 37, is coming off a 9th round stoppage victory over Antonio Margarito on January 24th. Mosley dominated the entire fighting with his blazing fast hands and powerful combinations, hurting Margarito many times in the fight and dropping him in the 9th. Margarito at the time of the fight was considered to be the top welterweight in all of boxing, yet Mosley made him look like oaf.
Mosley would likely come into the fight at 160 after gaining weight following the weight in, and would have a minimum of a 15 pound advantage in weight over the short, 5’6″ Pacquiao. Some may think that Mosley is getting up there in age, and he may be, but he still has extraordinary speed, power, stamina and outstanding boxing skills.
It’s one thing that Pacquiao was good enough to beat a weight drained, washed up De La Hoya, but quite another kettle of fish to fight someone like Mosley who is strong, fast and not past his prime or starved like De La Hoya.
What is Roach thinking? He seems drunk on his victory over De La Hoya, way too overconfident from a victory that pretty much was meaningless because of De La Hoya’s condition that night. Probably any other welterweight in the division would have defeated De La Hoya on that night.
This is why Roach shouldn’t get too overanxious to put his fighter in with a fighter with so many advantages over the smaller Pacquiao.
If this fight were to take place, I would have to pick Mosley to win it. He’s faced better competition in his career, facing mostly fighters larger than Pacquiao, and is the naturally bigger fighter than Pacquiao. Although Pacquiao might be able to stay bulked up to fight Mosley, he won’t be as strong as Mosley and will have problems with Shane’s better power and size.
Comments are closed.