By Jim Dower: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is hoping that Floyd Mayweather Jr. will be more reasonable about negotiating a fight with Top Rank fighter WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao if Mayweather beats Shane Mosley this Saturday night at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Arum, speaking to Boxing Fanhouse, said “It may very well be that if Mayweather beats Mosley, [he], may be emboldened to face Manny Pacquiao, and therefore be more reasonable in negotiations.”
By hoping that Mayweather is more “reasonable” in negotiations, Arum is likely counting on Mayweather not requiring that Pacquiao take random blood tests that Floyd was asking for during their recent failed fight negotiations in March. Pacquiao didn’t want to take the blood tests near enough to the fight to please Mayweather, causing the negotiations to quickly fizzle out. Pacquiao and Arum then selected fellow Top Rank fighter Joshua Clottey for a fight that took place at the Cowboy Stadium.
Still, if Mayweather beats Mosley this Saturday, the chances of Mayweather changing his mind about wanting the random blood tests for a fight with Pacquiao are slim to say the least. If anything, he’s going to be even more emboldened, not less, about wanting the random blood tests to take place. Presumably, Arum is hoping that Mayweather will drop the idea of Mayweather requiring Pacquiao to take the random blood tests. It’s doubtful that Arum will be able to persuade Pacquiao into taking the tests, so for the fight to take place, it will probably be Mayweather who will be the one to give in on this issue. Will that happen? It’s hard to say, but given a victory by Mayweather over Mosley, I would highly doubt it.
Like a lot of boxing fans, Arum thinks that Mayweather will have too much youth and skill for Mosley and will end up beating him this Saturday. Arum says “A younger Mosley, I would have liked through over Floyd. Sometimes with an old fighter, he can regain his youth. It doesn’t happen often but it happens once in a while. If he did, he would beat Mayweather, but the chances of that happening are rather slim.”
Yes, the chances are rather slim. Mosley is pushing 40, hasn’t fought in over a year and is facing one of the fastest and best defensive fighters in all of boxing. Mosley would have to really back in time if he wanted to beat a talented fighter like Mayweather. If this was the 1992 version of Mosley, he would have a great chance of beating Floyd. However, that fighter doesn’t exist anymore. Mosley has aged and isn’t quite up to that level of performance anymore.
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