By Eric Thomas: Freddie Roach is reaching for any angle he can get to have his fighter Manny Pacquiao get another victory on his resume. This Saturday, Pacquiao faces another well known star in 39-year-old Shane Mosley at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Roach is counting on Pacquiao adding Mosley’s scalp to his resume and sees it as a feather in Pacquiao’s cap if he can get the win, especially if it’s a knockout victory. Never mind the fact that Mosley is pushing 40 now and hasn’t won an actual fight in two years. Roach will take a victory any way he can get it.

Speaking with the Bostonherald.com, Roach said “Old is old. We can’t escape that.” Sadly, the fight may come down to Mosley’s age being too much of a negative for him to get the win. This would be disappointing in particular if the fight is one-sided with Pacquiao easily winning. It would lead you back to the question why is Pacquiao fighting old guys like Mosley when there are younger fighters like Mike Jones, Andre Berto or Victor Ortiz to fight? Or guys like Sergio Martinez and Paul Williams if Pacquiao were interested in going after bigger fighters instead of fighters that are pumped up like Antonio Margarito and fighting for belts in weight divisions that they’re rarely fought in before.

In his prime, Mosley would likely be good enough to beat Pacquiao but right now it’s hard to say whether Mosley has enough left to even be competitive with Pacquiao. Roach is only giving Mosley a knockout chance of winning the fight and thinks he’ll only be dangerous in the first four rounds. Roach may be right. Let’s just hope that the fight is good one and not another set up fight where Pacquiao fights a guy that has no chance because he’s either shot, weight drained or coming off a terrible beating and not the same fighter.