By Chris Williams: My how Alex Ariza, the strength and conditioning coach for Manny Pacquiao, has changed his mind about 39-year-old Shane Mosley. Ariza was totally against Pacquiao fighting the shot-looking Mosley, saying this after Pacquiao’s win over Antonio Margarito: “Manny might not even train for Mosley.” Ariza wanted Pacquiao to fight Juan Manuel Marquez again and finally prove to boxing fans that he’s a better fighter than the Mexican after having struggled badly in two prior fights with him.
Many boxing fans, this writer included, felt that Marquez beat Pacquiao both times they fought. Pacquiao and his promoter Bob Arum haven’t been too eager to get back in the ring with Marquez.
In an article by Nick Gionco at the Manila Bulletin – mb.com, Ariza now says this about Mosley: “It’s not right to count him [Mosley] out even if his last fight [with Sergio Mora] was not that impressive.” Mora should have included Mosley’s fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr as well along with the Mora fight. Mosley looked horrid in the Mayweather fight, even worse than the Mora bout. But it is interesting to see how Ariza is now seemingly toeing the corporate line by saying Mosley shouldn’t be overlooked by Pacquiao. I’m wondering if/when Ariza is going to start really selling Mosley by saying he thinks he can actually beat Pacquiao. This fight is going to really need a hard marketing push by Pacquiao’s team to interest casual boxing fans because it seems like such a terrible mismatch, much worse than the Margarito and Joshua Clottey fight in my view.
This runs counter to what a lot of boxing fans and writers are saying about the Mosley-Pacquiao bout, because many people see this as a dreadful mismatch, not even worth it for Pacquiao to fight. It looks completely like a money-grab fight and not one that promises to be competitive or interesting for boxing fans to watch.
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