By John F. McKenna (McJack): The much anticipated fight on Saturday night between Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao (53-3-2, 38 KO’s) and “Sugar” Shane Mosley (46-7-1-1, 39 KO’s) did not deliver the fireworks that boxing fans had expected. Pacquiao had been under some criticism prior to the fight for taking on 39 year old Mosley who had not been impressive in his previous two fights against Floyd Mayweather and Sergio Mora.

Promoter Bob Arum initially had to sell the Mosley fight to Pacquiao and his trainer Freddy Roach. Arum ultimately won both Manny and Roach over by selling the idea that Shane still had enough left in the tank to be competitive against the “Pacman” who is considered by most boxing fans and writers to be the best pound for pound fighter in boxing. Once Pacquiao and Roach were on board, a nationwide tour was undertaken to promote the fight. The tour included a much publicized visit by Pacquiao to the White House in Washington.

The MGM Grand in Las Vegas was chosen as the venue for the fight. When the tickets went on sale the seats at the MGM Grand sold out in three hours. Bob Arum had chosen to leave HBO for this fight and go with Showtime because of the much larger fan base on Showtime. Showtime is estimated to have a viewership of over 100 million vs 30 million for HBO. Arum felt that Showtime would be a better equipped to showcase the clean images of Pacquiao and Mosley.

When Mosley appeared at the weigh in for the fight last Friday he was ripped and appeared to be in excellent condition as did Pacquiao. When fans and boxing writers saw the shape Mosley was in many thought that he may really have had a chance to upset Manny Pacquiao. There were some who thought that Pacquiao and Roach were somewhat intimidated when they saw the condition Mosley was in.

When the fight started both Pacquiao and Mosley went through the feeling out process in the first round and the round was close. In the 2nd round both fighters landed a couple of insignificant shots and Pacquiao won the round. In the 3rd round Pacquiao started to exhibit his speed and landed a couple of combinations and then he caught Mosley with a right hand that knocked Mosley down and stunned him. When Mosley got up he appeared to be surprised at both Pacquiao’s speed and power. For the rest of the round Mosley was trying to avoid any further damage from the “Pacman” in order to last out the round.

From the 3rd round on Mosley was in survival mode. All the pre fight talk of how he was going to deal with Pacquiao’s speed went out the window. One of Joe Lousis’s most famous quotes “Everybody has a plan until they get hit.” fits this situation entirely. Once Mosley experienced Pacquiao’s blazing speed and realized how hard his punches are he seemed to be content only with lasting out each round. Mosley totally abandoned any plan that he might have had to cope with Pacquiao. Round after round went by with Pacquiao winning each round.

In the tenth round Manny went to the canvas and the referee called it a knockdown. The replay showed that it was not a knockdown. But it had to be counted in the scoring. For the remainder of the10th round and in the 11th and 12th rounds Pacquiao went after the retreating Mosley. Trainer Freddie Roach exhorted Pacquiao to “get this guy out of there.” Mosley used his considerable defensive skills to avoid a knockout.

Pacquiao was obviously disappointed that the fight with Mosley was not more competitive. Although Manny’s speed was still intact he was hampered by some cramping in his legs. Not for one minute do I buy the idea that Manny’s career is on a downward slide. Most of the people who are saying that would be delighted if he had lost the fight with Mosley. It is difficult to fight someone with Mosley’s defensive skills who does not want to engage you. It has happened to every fighter. It happened to Vitali Klitschko when he fought Kevin Johnson in December 2009. It happened to Muhammad Ali when he fought Jimmy Young. It happened to the great Joe Louis when he fought Arturo Godoy. The naysayers were saying those fighters were slipping as well. One thing we must all remember. If a fan or writer does not like you he is not going to say good things about you no matter what you do. Let’s look forward to what Manny Pacquiao does in his next fight.