By Dave Lahr: So Manny Pacquiao’s next fight against Shane Mosley will be now televised by CBS/Showtime instead of HBO on May 7th, and future Pacquiao fights will also be shown on CBS/Showtime. This is supposed to be a good thing, right? Well, I hope it means that Pacquiao will start facing quality fighters like Sergio Martinez and/or Juan Manuel Marquez because I’ve seen enough of Pacquiao fighting his fellow Top Rank fighters Antonio Margarito, Miguel Cotto and Joshua Clottey. And I hate his fight with the washed up Shane Mosley.

It’s no treat that the fight will be shown on CBS/Showtime when it’s still going to be the washed up Mosley he’s fighting. If by putting the fight on Showtime will suddenly translate into Pacquiao fighting better opponents, then I’m all for it. But I don’t think there’s going to be any real change. It’s going to be just a change of scenery for Pacquiao, and business as usual. Mosley was picked out because he was a recognizable name; not because he could still fight and was a threat to Pacquiao. He’s not a threat, and he’s probably going to get wiped out in front of a lot of fans that purchase this fight on Showtime pay-per-view.

It makes no difference what network ultimately shows Pacquiao’s fights if he’s still going to be running the circuit against guys like Cotto, Clottey, Margarito and Mosley. Those are all fighters that Pacquiao can beat, and we’ll probably be seeing rematches with at least one of two of that bunch before Pacquiao finally hangs up his gloves in the future. It’s going to benefit Bob Arum, Pacquiao and whoever is selected to fight him, but I don’t see much benefit to boxing fans who have to watch a bunch of mismatches. I hope that by changing from HBO to CBS/Showtime, it will mean that Pacquiao steps it up and starts facing guys that boxing fans want to see him against, like Sergio Martinez, Juan Manuel Marquez, and Berto. I don’t want to see Pacquiao beating up guys he already beat up and I don’t want to see him beating up on an old Mosley or Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. Spare me, please.