By Eric Thomas: A question that has been on the minds of some boxing fans is whether the winner of the proposed Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao bout choose to do the right thing and fight World Boxing Association welterweight champion Shane Mosley or will the winner opt to ignore Mosley and go in a different direction? It would be hard to crown the Pacquiao vs. Mayweather winner the top fighter in the welterweight division if they leave Mosley as unfinished business. Of course, Mosley has to win his January 30th bout against Andre Berto for him to proceed ahead against the winner of Mayweather-Pacquiao.

However, many people are predicting that Mosley should be able to get past Berto without too many problems unless Mosley has gotten old since winning the WBA welterweight title with a 9th round stoppage over champion Antonio Margarito earlier this year. Mosley looks good otherwise and will be sitting pretty for a huge money fight against Mayweather or Pacquiao some time next year.

What leaves a fight like this open to question is the lack of a huge fan base for Mosley. He might be the best fighter – or close to it – in the welterweight division, but he doesn’t get the same kind of attention that Mayweather and Pacquiao get because his wins are less flashy in comparison. Mosley, up until recently, doesn’t talk a lot about himself and call out fighters like some of the boxers do.

And that perhaps has caused Mosley to be out of view by many boxing fans who otherwise would be aware of him. The squeaky wheel gets the attention in boxing and Mosley hasn’t been loud like some of the fighters in the sport. However, it would be hard to imagine that Pacquiao or Mayweather could get away with ignoring Mosley in the future if they do decide to continue with their boxing careers following their epic fight.

They won’t need the money that they’ll get in a fight with Mosley, but if they care at all about their legacy, they need to fight Mosley and make it clear who the best fighter in the welterweight division is. You can’t say that the Mayweather-Pacquiao winner is absolutely 100% the best fighter in the division if Mosley is still holding down the WBA title and defending it against all comers.

Mosley is too to be ignored and boxing fans won’t let the Mayweather-Pacquiao winner get away without saying something about it. Beyond Mosley, there really isn’t another big named fighter for Mayweather or Pacquiao to fight. Although that won’t stop Mayweather from still making a lot of money against one of the lesser known fighters. It would be bad though if he chooses to fight someone who is perceived to be a lesser fighter than Mosley.

There’s really only Mosley, Berto, Joshua Clottey, Antonio Margarito and Zab Judah in terms of well known fighters. Saul Alvarez, an up and coming fighter, is still too young and too green for Mayweather or Pacquiao to fight at this time. Margarito is still under suspension and Clottey was recently beaten by Miguel Cotto in a 12 round split decision. Judah has lost four out of his last nine fights and hasn’t looked good at welterweight in a number of years.