Pacquiao + Mosley = Ugly mismatch = Disappointed fans

By Boxing News - 12/22/2010 - Comments

By Chris Williams: Well, it looks like 39-year-old fading star Shane Mosley (46-6-1, 39 KO’s) has been picked out as Manny Pacquiao’s next victim to beat up on and look good. Bob Arum, Pacquiao’s promoter, selected Mosley because he was better known among the casual boxing fans who have little clue about the sport. They at least have heard of Mosley because he’s been around for ages. That’s the problem. Mosley has been around too long and is no longer even close to being the fighter he used to be.

They might as well have selected Julio Cesar Chavez or Kostya Tszyu for Pacquiao to fight if they were looking for older relics that fans had heard of, because Mosley will do about as good a job as those fighters against Pacquiao. I don’t care if this is a fight that will make Pacquiao the most money. I want entertaiment for my money and it doesn’t make me feel better about throwing away $55 to $60 on a mismatch knowing that Pacquiao will be better off against Mosley than someone more dangerous but less known like Andre Berto and Juan Manuel Marquez.

I think it’s silly for Pacquiao’s fans to back his choice of facing Mosley by bringing up the argument that he brings in the most money. Who cares if he does? I want to see the best fight, not someone that brings in the most money. Why should I care about Pacquiao making more money against a lesser fighter? It’s not like I’m going to make the money or his fans. We’re not seeing any of that. We’re the ones that will be paying to see this mismatch, and it doesn’t make me feel better about it knowing that Pacquiao will make more bucks in this fight than he would against Berto or Marquez. Why didn’t Pacquiao fight Mosley before if he’s such a big money maker? Why did Pacquiao fight less popular fighters like Joshua Clottey and Antonio Margarito? Those guys weren’t popular either, and I suspect that neither of them are as popular as Marquez or Berto. But Pacquiao still fought them.

This fight is going to be so one-sided that it’s going to be a huge turn off for fans. Unless Pacquiao fights at half speed and carries the aging Mosley for much of the fight, this is going to be a worse bout than his fights against Margarito and Miguel Cotto. The reason is Mosley doesn’t have the size nor the wheels to move and fight on the outside. He’s literally going to be forced to stand in front of Pacquiao and get hit for as long as this fight lasts. That’s going to make it a short fight because Mosley seems incapable of fighting hard for more than two rounds without gassing out for the rest of the fight.

I don’t care if Pacquiao’s making more money on this fight. I’m not going to be more entertained from having watched it, and I don’t care that he’s getting bigger bucks for it. I see this as bad entertainment. If you have a choice between putting on a good fight that makes slightly less money and a bad one that makes more money, I say you put on the good fight.



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