On Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Two legends in boxing met head to head in what was deemed as the fight of the year. WBO Welterweight Champ Manny Pacquiao (53-3-2 38 KOs) and Sugar Shane Mosley (46-7-1 39 KOs) were supposed to put on a show, it was more like a race.... Literally.
The first problem I have with this fight is that it should have never been made in the first place. It was a mismatch and Shane Mosley knew it, except it came with a nice paycheck that Mosley was willing to embarrass himself for. I blame the match up on Bob Arum and Team Pacquiao. This fight never happens if Arum and Co. didn't give in to Mosley and hand him a large payday to become a marathon runner. Which leads me to my second problem with this fight, Sugar "Shame" Mosley. If Mosley knew he had no intentions of actually fighting during the fight, then shame on him. He had no business being in the ring with the best fighter in the world. Mosley said he would consider retirement if he suffered a bad loss, last night may have been the worst of his seven losses. Hang 'em up Shane.
What can you say about Manny Pacquiao? Aside from being in the ring with the wrong guy, again, he did what he always does, beat up another bigger guy, again. Pacquiao blitzed towards Mosley all night long and maybe only took it easy in the fifth round when his leg may have began to cramp up on him. Pacquiao also dropped Mosley in the third round with a short power left hand that had Shane on roller skates for the remainder of the round and much of the next round as well. There were several head clashes throughout the bout, but no cuts were sustained by either man as a result of them. In the tenth, there was a bit of controversy when following an exchange, Mosley clearly pushed Pacquiao to the canvas but Referee Kenny Bayless mistakenly ruled it a knock down and gave Pacman an undeserving standing eight count. Pacquiao seemed to take his frustrations with Bayless' mistake out on Mosley as he battered him around the ring for the rest of the round.
Manny stalked Shane for the last 2 rounds and looked for the KO, but Shane looked like a jockey on a horse from the Kentucky Derby earlier in the day and outran Pacquiao to the finish line. All three judges had Pacquiao winning in a landslide (119-108, 120-108, 120-107) with two of the three scoring a perfect fight for him. So now we are back to where we started, trying to find an opponent we all want to see in the ring with the pound 4 pound king. Mayweather or Marquez? It’s the same old story.
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