By Charlie Knoxville
How can anyone not like a fighter like Manny Pacquiao?
He takes on challenges, fights way above his weight class, and puts on a show every time he fights. He’s defeated a slew of boxing stars like Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton, Miguel Cotto, Joshua Clottey, Antonio Margarito and now he will face Sugar Shane Mosley in Las Vegas on May 7th.
Shane Mosley is the most dangerous fighter of the available options for Manny Pacquiao to choose from since Floyd Mayweather Jr went into hiding.
If you ask Shane Mosley why he is the most dangerous opponent for Manny Pacquiao he will ask you who would win if I fought Juan Manuel Marquez or Andre Berto?
Mosley makes very good point proving why he deserved the fight with Pacquiao over Juan Manuel Marquez and Andre Berto.
Think about it. If Shane Mosley fought Juan Manuel Marquez at 147 pounds who would win that fight? Could Marquez destroy Miguel Cotto, Joshua Clottey and Antonio Margarito at 147-150 pounds? The answer is probably “NO.” Marquez was knocked down by a lightweight in Michael Katsidis and went life and death with Juan Diaz and an aging Joel Casamayor before stopping them. Juan’s only fight above 135 was against Floyd Mayweather and he looked slow and weak in that fight. Picture Marquez vs. Miguel Cotto or Shane Mosley at 145-150 pounds? Marquez won’t be able to hurt those guys and they would likely end Marquez’s career.
Marquez basically killed any chance for a third fight between him and boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao by trying to demand more money than he deserved, and trying to tell Manny to fight him below 147 when Manny, Roach, and Arum already stated they are staying at Welterweight.
Marquez has no right to call the shots, he isn’t the draw or the star, so by him doing what he did was basically a way for him to say he didn’t really want a fight with Pacquiao without actually saying it out loud.
As for the undefeated WBC Welterweight champion Andre Berto he has good skills, but he hasn’t fought anyone and he has an even smaller fanbase than Marquez.
Berto would present a decent challenge to Manny Pacquiao but if Berto cannot knockout Manny or take him out early, Berto might get knocked out cold by Pacquiao. Berto has a suspect chin, he was knocked down and practically out by a journeyman named Cosme “Chino” Rivera but his cornerman cut Berto’s gloves open giving him several minutes to recover before the start of the next round, if they never replaced Berto’s gloves Rivera would have gave Berto his first loss. Another fight where Berto didn’t look great was against southpaw slickster Luis Collazo who gave Berto hell and many felt Collazo beat Berto. Berto never gave Collazo a rematch. Now imagine if Manny Pacquiao dropped Berto or wobbled him? Pacquiao would attack Berto with a barrage of punches from all different angles until Berto dropped on the canvas.
So that leads to the biggest and most dangerous challenger for Manny at 147 pounds, Shane Mosley.
Mosley is either on or off, but when he is on point, he is hell to deal with, ask Antonio Margarito and Fernando Vargas who were both stopped by Mosley.
What makes Mosley a difficult match-up for Manny is his style, he is a power boxer with speed. Both Manny and Shane like to finish fights and trade blows which will give Shane a lot of opportunities to land his signature overhand right power punch. Mosley is the fastest and strongest opponent that Pacquiao has ever faced. Despite being 39-years-old, Mosley lives a clean lifestyle like his friend Bernard Hopkins who at 45-years-old beats up on younger fighters for fun.
Let’s not forget the desire to prove his critics wrong factor. I am sure this has been said before by many boxing scribes but the most dangerous opponent is a guy who has nothing to lose. There is no pressure on Shane Mosley to win, making it easier for him to train without burden, all the pressure is on Manny because everyone expects him to blitz Mosley early. Manny wasn’t 100 percent conditioned in his fight with Antonio Margarito, he was distracted by politics and out of the ring activities and it showed in the fight. Even though Manny beat Margarito to a pulp, he was showing minor signs of fatigue in that fight and was getting hit way too much by the slower Margarito. If Manny doesn’t take the fight with Shane seriously and thinks Mosley is a walk in the park then he will be in serious trouble and all those distractions outside of the ring could finally catch up to him.
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I am an avid fan of boxing and video games. My first fight of memory was watching Prince Naseem Hamed destroy Kevin Kelly. I enjoy all aspects of the sport. My favorite current boxer is Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao. My favorite boxing match is Diego Corrales vs. Jose Luis Castillo 1. I love watching boxing on Pay-Per-View more than being there live because you can really enjoy and watch the action from the best view.