By Sean McDaniel: HBO Boxing analyst and trainer Emanuel Steward likes a fight between Manny Pacquiao and Shane Mosley rather than Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr. In an interview at East Side Boxing’s On the Ropes program, Steward, commenting on a potential future fight between Pacquiao and the 38-year-old Mosley, said “The true, true really explosive fight that the true fights would like look forward to would be Shane Mosley and Pacquiao. I mean, you know that Shane is going to bring it to you. I mean that’s him. There’s no way he’s going to run from anybody or try to be technical and if things get rough, he’s still going to fight.”
There’s one big problem with Steward’s thoughts about a Pacquiao-Mosley fight, and that’s because Mosley has to get by his next opponent Floyd Mayweather Jr., who Mosley faces on May 1st at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada. That’s a fight that a lot of people are expecting Mosley to lose, not win. And it may be nice to wish that Mosley would beat Mayweather and then move on to face Pacquiao, but it’s something that isn’t likely to happen.
Mayweather is the younger fighter than Mosley at 33, faster, the better mover and someone who fights on the outside. Mosley does well against slower fighters that stand in front of him and are willing to trade. Mosley is then able to use his in and out attacks to get the better of the action. But what Mosley isn’t good at is cutting off the ring and dealing with a fighter that is pot shotting him and moving constantly.
However, even if Mosley does somehow get by Mayweather, there still won’t be an immediate fight with Pacquiao, because Mayweather has a rematch clause in his contract with Mosley. This means that Mosley would have to beat Mayweather two consecutive times before he’s able to move on to a fight against Pacquiao. By then, Mosley will be 39-years-old and probably starting to show more effects of aging.
I think Steward isn’t taking into an account that Mosley hasn’t fought in over a year, since beating Antonio Margarito in January 2009, and by the time that he does get free and clear of Mayweather, Mosley is going to be nearing 40. That’s pretty old for a fighter that is being matched up with Pacquiao. I don’t see him beating Mayweather, and if he does, I can’t see him beating Pacquiao at that age.
Maybe if Mosley was in 20s, but not at nearly 40. Mosley was one of the best fighters on earth in his 20s, but he’s mad mixed results in his 30s, losing twice to Winky Wright, and fighting a lot of opponents on the downsides of their careers like Ricardo Mayorga and Fernando Vargas. I think a fight between Mosley and Pacquiao would be more exciting than a Mayweather-Pacquiao bout, but that’s only because Mosley would fight Pacquiao’s fight by going right at him. I think it would be a losing game plan for the 39-year-old Mosley, but it would be exciting while it lasted.
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