DID PACQUIAO SET UP MOSLEY FOR THE BIGGEST UPSET OF ALL TIME?
By Jason Aniel
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 04 May 2011
San Francisco, CA ? When the fight was first announced back in December of 2010, the boxing world already knew that Shane Mosley was a big underdog against Manny Pacquiao. 2010 was not a good year for Shane Mosley in the boxing ring. First, Mosley was supposed to face Andre Berto, but Berto had to back out of the fight because of the earthquakes in his home country of Haiti. Instead, Mosley got the fight he had been asking for years?a fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. The perception going into that fight was that Mosley had more than a shot to defeat Mayweather. Mosley was the biggest fighter, physically, Mayweather had ever fought, and Mosley was coming off an impressive victory over Antonio Margarito, recognized as the most dangerous Welterweight in the world.
The fight was a huge business success as it generated well over one million pay-per-view buys, and an 11 million dollar live attendance gate. However, in the ring, Mosley did not perform very well at all. After a stunning second round where Mosley almost dropped Mayweather, Mosley looked stiff, confused, and old as he stumbled around the ring looking for Mayweather for the rest of the fight.
In Mosley?s comeback fight last September, he took on the awkward, tall, and lanky Super Welterweight, Sergio Mora. Although Mosley was the favorite in that fight, many felt Mora had the style to beat Mosley, and could be lined up to face Mayweather at 154lbs in the future. The fight was a dud from the first round to the last. Mora was never considered an offensive fighter, but Mosley threw even fewer punches in that fight than against Mayweather. The bout ended in a draw even though Mosley tried to come on strong late in the fight. Maybe Mosley should have been ahead on points at the end of 12 rounds against Mora, but he lost most of the boxing world with that performance.
In the aftermath of the Mora fight, Mosley was now considered a stepping-stone to younger fighters like Andre Berto, or Paul Williams. But in Mosley?s mind, at the very least, he still had one more big performance left in him. And that was against a fighter he wanted to fight even more than Mayweather, which was Manny Pacquiao. On two separate occasions, Mosley attempted to challenge Pacquiao to a fight. However, Pacquiao had better opportunities at that time, and declined to take on Mosley.
However, when Mayweather declined to fight Pacquiao, Mosley saw an opening for one more shot at a big money fight. Mosley left his promotional company, Golden Boy Promotion, and negotiated directly with Pacquiao?s promoter to fight Pacquiao. Mosley was the biggest fight Top Rank could make involving Pacquiao. So the fight was made and the promotion began.
Typically during the promotion of a Pacquiao fight, turmoil in the training camp ensues and many wonder whether Pacquiao is fully focused on his opponent. Often times an overwhelming favorite will dismiss his opponent and not work as hard in training, which would result in an upset. However, that was never the case during this training camp. Freddie Roach described the camp as one of the best training camps he?s ever had. Alex Ariza claimed that Pacquiao has not been in this kind of physical shape since the Miguel Cotto fight back in 2009. Manny has always been considered one of the top conditioned athletes in the world, whether Manny had distractions or not. A distracted Pacquiao, whose focus is on Congress or elsewhere, will dominate a fighter 16 pounds heavier than him over 12 brutal rounds and send him to the hospital, though at the time injure his hand or suffer a couple of bumps and bruises. A fully focused Pacquiao at the optimum physical shape will destroy a fighter and make him quit on the stool without even a nick on his body.
If we are to believe Roach and Ariza, who have never been known to lie about the conditioning of Pacquiao, fans are expected to see the Pacquiao, who fought De La Hoya and Hatton, rather than the Pacquiao, who fought Margarito. That?s not good news for Shane Mosley, who not only has to battle the best Pacquiao possible, but face the doubts from the people and himself of whether he still has what it takes to be the best fighter in the world.
It also adds to the pressure on Manny Pacquiao, who was already a huge favorite when the fight was first announced. Odds have been as high as 10-1. Not even David Diaz was a 10-1 underdog against Pacquiao. And now that it?s pretty clear Pacquiao is in the best shape of his life without any distractions and is at the top of his game right now, it?s going to be difficult to exceed the high expectations set on Pacquiao.
In the event Shane Mosley pulls off the upset, Pacquiao cannot make any excuse of a lack of focus or conditioning. In many ways, Pacquiao has backed himself into a no win situation, where only a dominating victory, resulting in a knockout could satisfy even the harshest Pacquiao critics. And at 10-1, even if Pacquiao wins by KO, he would have only done what everyone expects him to do. But because Pacquiao eliminated any excuses a 10-1 favorite fighter can typically make, a loss could be viewed in the history of boxing as the biggest upset of all time.
Follow Jason Aniel on twitter @sportnjordan or www.twitter.com/sportnjordan
Top photo: "Sugar" Shane Mosley makes his "Grand Arrival" at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas Tuesday for his upcoming World Welterweight mega fight against superstar Manny Pacquiao on Saturday, May 7 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Pacquiao vs Mosley is promoted by Top Rank in association with MP Promotions,Sugar Shane Mosley Promotions, Tecate and MGM Grand. The Pacquiao vs Mosley telecast will be available live on SHOWTIME Pay Per View. -- Photo Credit: Chris Farina - Top Rank.
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