By Dan Ambrose: WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao gave his own prediction for this Saturday night’s fight between undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr. and WBA welterweight champion Shane Mosley, picking Mosley to win and thinks that Mayweather will run from him. In an interview by Greg Leon at Boxing Talk, Pacquiao said “I think Mosley has a great chance of winning. I expect him and his team to come up with different plans to fight Mayweather, who I think will run all night.” There you have it. Pacquiao thinks that the 38-year-old Mosley will beat Mayweather this Saturday at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Mayweather is unbeaten at 40-0, 25 KO’s. However, many of Mayweather’s best wins have come in the distant past, and he hasn’t faced anyone his own size for long while. It’s been three years since Mayweather fought Oscar De La Hoya, a light middleweight at the time, but old and considered past his prime. Although technically a junior middleweight at the time that he fought Mayweather, De La Hoya was more of a welterweight who put on extra weight to fight at light middleweight.
Mayweather hasn’t fought anyone his size that had much talent for ages. This is why Mayweather, 5’8”, could be in serious trouble this Saturday night against the slightly taller and equally talented 5’9” Mosley. Mayweather doesn’t like to mix it up, preferring to move a lot on the outside to avoid taking shots. Mosley doesn’t like to get hit either, but he’s willing to mix it up and isn’t afraid to take shots in order to land his own. Mosley throws more punches than Mayweather and might hit a little harder.
Mayweather has the better defensive skill of the two. If Mosley can force Mayweather to stand and trade with him, the fight will favor Mosley because Mayweather doesn’t like to fight hard for any length of time. It’s been a long time since Mayweather was forced to throw a lot of punches and there’s a concern here that he could tire out quickly if Mosley gets him in a war.
There’s also the question about how much punishment Mayweather can take. Because of his movement and defensive skills, he’s rarely taken that many shots in any one fight during his career. If Mosley is able to land as often as he did in his last fight against Antonio Margarito, then there’s a chance that he could take Mayweather out.
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