By Joss Gooseman:

To hear it from the man himself

Showtime recently made public a video clip of an exchange between Sugar Shane Mosley and his trainer Nazeem Richardson during his fight with Manny Pacquiao. Mosley is clearly heard asking Richardson to stop the fight wherein which he was knocked down in the third round by Pacquiao. Everybody already noted that Mosley “quit” after the third round, but to hear the words from his lips is…well, wow. He was clearly hurting, more than anybody realized.

Bad business decision

I think this is a bad move on the part of Showtime. They should have just archived the video file. If they sincerely wanted the reality of a Pacquiao-Mayweather fight, then they should not have made this video public.

“Reversed” restraining order

If Floyd was running away from a fight with Manny Pacquiao, then this video will make him really scamper and scuttle away from ever meeting Pacquiao in the ring. Hearing the fear, hesitation and hurt in Shane Mosley’s voice will not help in making the fight at all. Floyd might end up taking another sports altogether, maybe like, mountain climbing. Scaling the heights of Kilimanjaro, far from it all. Or maybe ice skating in Antarctica. The haunting image of Shane pleading with Nazeem Richardson to stop the fight will surely haunt Floyd even in his dreams. Not even a “reverse”-restraining order will keep him within 10 feet of Manny Pacquiao.

Big disappointment for Fans

We all have to admit that, in the deepest recesses of our hearts, we have that small glimmer of certainty that, sooner or later, these fighters will face each other in the ring. That Floyd is just taking some time to clean up his mess. Maybe reason out to the judge that he was just trying to pick up a piece of something from the guards noses when he “poked” their faces. We as fans, have to admit to ourselves that we all have that small flickering flame of hope. Now that flame is mercilessly blown out and away by this video. Floyd Mayweather Junior will so disappear that people won’t be able to see even the faintest reflection of his shadow on a hot sunny morning in the Great Basin Desert of Nevada.

Hope for the Best

But let’s all just hope that Floyd sees it another perspective, from another angle. Since Pacquiao agreed to take the tests up to the six round of their fight, we will see what Floyd comes up with next. As for me, I’m still keeping my fingers crossed, with a rubber tied around them so they don’t get uncrossed. Let’s all just hope for the best. That this fight happens in our lifetime. That we get to see the two greatest fighters of this era face off inside that squared circle. Offense against defense, power against subtlety, hand-speed against hand-speed, the slick versus the slugger…I have to re-tie that rubber band on my crossed fingers because my hands are getting all clammy with excitement with just the thought of this huge, huge fight. Say, why don’t we all tie our crossed fingers together?