By Chris Williams: Manny Pacquiao is saying that he believes World Boxing Association welterweight champion Shane Mosley will beat Floyd Mayweather Jr. in their upcoming May 1st bout at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada. In an article at Fightfan, Pacquiao says “I think Mosley will win.” Pacquiao feels that it will be an entertaining bout, saying “I think Mayweather vs. Mosley will be a good fight.” It’s good to see that Pacquiao isn’t bitter about his fight with Mayweather falling apart recently during the negotiation process.
A lot of boxers would likely be a little angry if they were in the same shoes as Pacquiao. The fighters had gone though the loss process of negotiations for a fight on March 13th, but when they got to the part about random blood testing, they quickly reached an impassible impasse due to Mayweather’ request of having random blood tests inside the 30 day window.
Eventually, Pacquiao and his promotional company Top Rank moved on and signed a fight with little known Joshua Clottey instead. Pacquiao fans are generally excited about the Clottey fight, whereas casual Pacquiao fans are lukewarm to the selection of Clottey as a replacement opponent for Mayweather.
Mosley, 38, will have to fight beyond what he’s shown in recent fights if he wants to beat Mayweather. It’s unclear what Pacquiao is looking at when deciding on Mosley as the winner of a fight against Mayweather. Based on the opinions of many boxing experts, they don’t see Mosley winning. Hopefully, Pacquiao isn’t just picking Mosley just to get back at Mayweather for their failed talks.
On paper, it just don’t seem likely that Mosley will do anything other than lose to Mayweather on May 1st. Shane could make it somewhat close if Mayweather decides to mix it up with him, but given that Floyd is more of a pure boxer, it’s unlikely that he will give Mosley any opportunities by trying to trade with the older fighter.
Meanwhile, Pacquiao, as if feeling the need to pump up his fight against Clottey, says “I won’t want to disappoint people with a boring fight. I feel you need to entertain the people who watch your fights.” Is this a dig at Mayweather, perhaps?
Pacquiao continues “It’s going to be a good fight because he [Clottey] has a good style. It’s a different kind of style and I want to fight. He’s bigger and he’s taller than Miguel Cotto.” What Pacquiao doesn’t say about Clottey is that he has problems with his stamina, and has few wins over top caliber opposition.
Pacquiao also fails to mention that Clottey was beaten in his last fight against Cotto, which isn’t exactly something to feel good about when considering putting down $49.95 to watch the Pacquiao-Clottey fight on pay-per-view. If Cotto was able to beat Clottey, then it would seem logical that Pacquiao will beat Clottey with ease since Pacquiao just finished wiping the deck with Cotto in November.
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