By Leonard Hart: ESPN has reported that it is official: Manny “Pac-Man” Pacquiao will be facing “Sugar” Shane Mosley in his next bout on May 7th. This is the same Mosley who went to Roach’s Wild Card Gym two years ago when he was ranked as the #1 welterweight and #3 on the pound for pound list and begged for a fight with Pacquiao. At the time Roach told Insidefights.com “I told him ‘no’ both times for the same two reasons: First there isn’t enough money there and second you’re too good a fighter.” Mosley’s previous fight before this entreaty to land a Pacquiao fight was a superb knockout victory over Antonio Margarito.
Now, Top Rank is insisting Mosley has been picked because he can bring in the most money. Yet, there is no question that Mosley would have brought in more money that Pacquiao’s last two opponents, Joshua Clottey and Antonio Margarito. A year ago negotiations for the mega-fight with Mayweather fell apart, when Pacquiao claimed he would be too weak to fight if he gave blood less than 24 days before the fight. Then immediately signed a fight with Clottey and SCHEDULED a physical he knew included a blood test, but only for diseases and not PEDs just 20 days before this fight. It was at this time that Roach and Pacquaio repeated on practically every media appearance that Pacquiao fights for the fans, not the money. That Clottey was selected because he had an exciting style and was a great fighter; that it would be a competitive fight.
In 2008, Roach said Mosley wouldn’t generate enough money for a fight with Pac than when Manny signed to fight Clottey it suddenly became Manny only fights for the fans. As for Arum, he told SI.com on September 20th, after Mosley’s lackluster performance against Sergio Mora, “What I’ve read is not very supportive to make any Mosley-Pacquiao bout. Look he’s going to be 40 and he’s in the lighter weights where speed is important… I’ve always considered Shane a nice guy but this is what happens to fighters when they age… It’s like Hopkins, he still knows how to fight but who wants to pay to see him now?” Yes, Arum made clear that Mosley had aged too much to give Manny a competitive fight and stated Mosley is not a draw. This just three months ago. Then for the last week, Arum has been all over the boxing media repeating himself that Mosley is where the money is. ESPN’s Dan Rafael quotes Arum as saying today that “I believe it will be an exciting fight. Shane knows how to fight and how to deal with the speed. Manny is in for a hellacious fight.” Yet, two months ago, Arum stated the exact opposite. According to boxing fans all over the web, this is not the fight they want to see.
Even if Mosley is the biggest possible draw and that’s the deciding factor than how does one explain fights with Clottey and Margarito? Clottey had never beaten any A-level fighter and lost his previous fight. Margarito had one fight since being humiliated by Mosley and it was against a D-level opponent. Neither had big fan bases and looking at the past couple years there was nothing either did to lead one to believe they could be competitive against a fighter of Pacquiao’s caliber. Looking at Pacquiao’s last two fights and his next one it is clear that who can generate the most money is not a deciding factor and choosing someone that can be competitive is not taken into consideration at all. Take the last two fights of each Clottey, Margarito, and Mosley and their combined record is 2-3-1. None of them have are big draws, even Arum and Roach have publicly stated Mosley cannot generate enough money for a fight with Manny. Many fans have realized that the only common denominator of the vast majority of Pacquiao’s opponents is that they have looked average at best over the previous year or two. Maybe there is a different method Top Rank and Manny uses to pick opponents, but thus far they have not given one that is even semi-credible. Mosley-Pacquiao will take place on May 7th 2011 and Pacquiao could fight again in November or December of 2011. By then Juan Manuel Marquez will be 38. Andre Berto is as tested as Clottey was. Manny’s team constantly claim he is too small for welterweight even, and indeed, he did not even weigh 145 for his last fight at the catch-weight of 150. There are numerous quality opponents at 140, especially the winner of the upcoming Bradley-Alexander bout.
There is no doubt Pacquiao is an exceptional talent, but he continues to disappoint boxing fans by not taking on any opponents who have looked better than decent over the year or two previous to Manny fighting them. Hopefully, there is some reason why Pacquiao lied about being too weak from giving blood to fight Floyd and as to how he picks his opponents, but as yet, Pacquiao, Arum, and Roach have not given any reasons that could be construed in any way to be truthful.
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