By Ben James: We are under a week away from one of the biggest fights of Shane Mosley’s career, his last chance to prove he can still bang at the top level of the sport. I am going to attempt to predict how this fight will go but before I do I would like to clear a few things up. Firstly I am not a journalist, writer, boxing expert. My name is Ben James, I am a boxing fan and this article is purely my personal opinion. I am not a fan-boy of Mosley or Pacquiao, so will try to give a unbiased opinion on this fight.

Here we go… Shane Mosley is past his prime, nobody can question that but nobody can deny he can still fight and if the motivation and hunger is in his belly, you should not write him off. It only takes one flush punch to end any fight. Mosley almost proved this when he hurt Floyd Mayweather in their fight one year ago.

If Mosley was fighting anybody but Mayweather that night he would have finished him off and ended the fight in the second round. Mayweather adjusts so fast, you only have a small window of opportunity to beat him, Mosley gave it his all but Floyd saw it coming and kept pounding him with hard body shots on the inside which contributed to Mosley been gassed for the rest of the fight, but been gassed was not the only reason Mosley seemed to die after that second round. Inside he knew Floyd had figured him out, adjusted and anything he tried from then on would not work, he lost his heart in that fight not just his energy.

Now a few things I want to get off my chest about Manny Pacquiao. First off I believe he is a great fighter with heart, stamina, speed and knockout power. He also has the ability to stick to a game plan when it suits him. These all work in his favor, but the man is just a man, a human being like everybody else, he has his weaknesses.

Over the last 3 years the mans life has changed. He has become an idol, a super hero across the world. In his home country he is the most popular man, a living God and I feel I have witnessed a change in him mentally. His ego is constantly been massaged by all the yes men around him, pumping him up making him feel like he is unbeatable. He never seems to dedicate himself fully to his training, he wants to be on TV singing songs or acting, his political career is another distraction.

Pacquiao used to appear very humble, recently that quality seems to have been lost in his personality in front of the TV cameras. He is starting to believe the hype, he is starting to believe nobody can beat him. All these combined could have a terrible affect on his performance come fight night.

As for the fight itself, this is how I see it going.

ROUNDS 1 – 3

The fight will start with Shane trying to box Pacquiao. I predict these rounds will be pretty boring, but Pacquiao will manage to pepper Shane with fast combinations.

ROUNDS 4 – 6

Shane will now start to get frustrated that he is not landing anything clean and that he keeps getting hit. He will become wilder, throwing big hard punches, trying to take Pacquiaos head off. There is a chance he will land and win the fight, but it is unlikely. The most likely outcome of his attack will be him getting countered by Pacquiao’s lightening fast punches. Its at this stage we might see Shane Mosley knocked out for the first time.

ROUNDS 6 – 12

Pacquiao will continue to have success with his combinations, landing almost at will on a now gassed, battered, bloodied and bruised Shane Mosley. If the knockout has not happened by the 10th round I don’t think it will happen at all. Instead Mosley’s corner will be forced to save his fighter before the end of the fight by chucking in the towel.

RESULT

Pacquiao wins via TKO

No doubt people who hate Pacquiao will hate on me and insult me based on this opinion. They will say Mosley has never been knocked out, some will say the fight will be a lot closer than this, but it wont.

Mosleys face will be swollen and covered in blood by the end of this fight. Pacman will beat Shane to the punch, and unless Shane gets lucky he has no chance of winning.