By John F. McKenna: When promoter Bob Arum first raised the possibility of a matchup between Manny Pacquiao (52-3-2, 38 KO’s) and Shane Mosley (46-6-1-1, 39 KO’s) he did what he does best. He not only had to sell the fight to fans and boxing writers, he also had to sell the fight to trainer Freddie Roach and Manny Pacquiao as well.

Roach knew that Manny would receive much criticism for taking on a fighter whose best days, at 39 years of age, were clearly behind him. Roach was correct in that assessment. Numerous articles have been written which have condemned the match between Pacquiao and the aging Mosley.

Arum has made it quite clear that he will make the deal he feels is a better sell, despite what fans and boxing writers prefer to see. Many fans would have preferred to see “Pacman” take on Juan Marquez based on the closeness of their two previous fights.

Bob Arum was not interested in another Pacquiao vs Marquez fight at this time, preferring to go with Shane Mosley. Arum feels that Mosley will still be a huge draw because of his large fan base, particularly on the west coast. Mosley wanted Pacquiao because currently he is the biggest draw in boxing. Apparently Arum was correct in his belief that the Pacquiao vs Mosley matchup would be the biggest draw in boxing with Floyd Mayweather out of the picture. When the tickets for the May 7, 2011 fight between Pacquiao and Mosley at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas went on sale they sold out in just three hours. Arum could not contain his exuberance at the advance ticket sales for the fight, stating that he had never seen anything like it before.

“Pacman” and “Sugar Shane” launched a five city tour in February to promote the fight. Pacquiao visited with President Obama at the White House while he was in Washington.

Mosley and Pacquiano have shown a mutual respect for each other in their press releases and there has been a refreshing lack of trash talking by both fighters. Both boxers show a healthy respect for each others accomplishments in the ring and refuse to get caught up in the trash talk.

Bob Arum elected to leave HBO for this fight and instead went with Showtime. Showtime has a much broader base with a viewership of approximately 105 million, as opposed to 35 million for HBO. Arum feels that he will not have any problems selling this fight to Showtime viewers, mainly because of the images that Pacquiao and Mosley have cultivated over the years.

Shane Mosley’s handlers are sure that he will be able to make the matchup with Manny Pacquiao competitive and feel that he may be able to surprise people with what they perceive is his power advantage. Pacquiao was able to dominate the much slower Antonio Margarito with his blazing hand speed, footwork and ring generalship. Mosley feels that he will be able to nullify the advantages that Pacquiao had over Margarito and that will be able to put on a much better performance against Pacquiao. Mosley is preparing for this fight with the intention and belief that his is going to win.

Even though some of Manny Pacquiao’s fans seem to be taking Shane Mosley lightly, neither Manny nor trainer Freddie Roach are falling into that trap. Pacquiao actually began the long grind of preparation for his training camp a week early. Freddie Roach is always on guard against his fighters taking opponents lightly and it does not appear to be a part of Manny’s makeup to take any fighter lightly. Pacquiao will be working with sparring partners who most closely resemble Mosley’s style. This fight will be an excellent gauge of Manny Pacquiao’s star power with his fans. This may be Shane Mosley’s last hurrah as a large draw.