By Chris Williams: Bob Arum has decided to take the May 7th bout between his fighter Manny Pacquiao and his opponent, 39-year-old Shane Mosley, and put it on Showtime instead of HBO. This change came about at the same time that HBO chose to put on the WBC title fight between Sergio Martinez vs. Sergiy Dzinziruk on March 12th instead of agreeing to show Miguel Cotto’s fight against an ancient 37-year-old Ricardo Mayorga. It seems like an easy choice for HBO to have made. On the one hand, you have a competitive fight with Martinez and Dzinziruk and on the other, you have pretty much a mismatch between Mayorga and Cotto. I know which fight I would have picked if I was working for HBO.

For boxing fans, it doesn’t matter which network shows the Pacquiao-Mosley fight because the price will likely be the same whether HBO is showing it or Showtime. It’s going to be an expensive mismatch costing in the neighborhood of $50+ to watch Pacquiao beat up the shot Mosley and then watching an undercard with Humberto Soto facing Urbano Antillon again and what will likely be a terrible mismatch with the prime Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. facing the faded and worn Jorge Arce. I would be happy with Arum’s moving of the fight from HBO to Showtime if he were to reduce the price to #4.99, because that’s what I see the Pacquiao vs. Mosley as being worth. It’s a mismatch and it doesn’t matter what network shows the fight. It’s still going to be a mismatch.