Aged but still competitive Shane Mosley believes he has what it takes to beat Filipino boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao.
I would believed in him if he said that ten years ago, when he was at his best element in defeating Oscar de la Hoya at 147 pounds while Pacquiao was jumping out of the flyweight division en route to winning the super bantamweight title be defeating Lehlo Ledwaba a year later in June 2001.
That would have been a travesty to the sports, however – pitting a welterweight and a super bantamweight.
Come to think of it, not even his lawyer Jeng Gacal believed Pacquiao was good enough to fight super featherweight champion Erik Morales barely four years later after the then rising boxing star from General Santos City annihilated Marco Antonio Barrera at 126 pounds in 2004.
At 39, Mosley has been around the sports for so long he ?unconsciously joined? the Balco bandwagon when juicing up was the catchword of the times.
In case you are not familiar with Balco, it is a company that produced a variety of banned performance enhancing drugs for any athlete who cares to improve his craft the illegal way.
Mosley was found positive of illegal substance after his defeat of Oscar de la Hoya in 2000 but to date still maintained his innocence.
Mosley has fought the best welterweights in his generation with mixed results but has never been knocked out in all his 54 professional bouts. During his prime, Mosley was ranked high in the list of pound for pound boxers.
Now, all indications point to him as the next opponent for Pacquiao. If you have not read the writings on the wall, you probably do not know your boxing.
But I won?t begrudge Top Rank?s Bob Arum and even Pacquiao for choosing Mosley. It is purely a business decision and both Arum and Pacquiao know the dollars and cents of every fight they will be taking in the next two years or so.
But is Mosley up to the competition?
Mosley will have his moments. Like when he almost knocked down Floyd Mayweather Jr in the second round last May.
But will he be good enough to last the distance?
I think the big mistakes of boxers who tried to get a piece of Pacquiao were their belief that they can take his punches while believing also that they can hit him squarely and flush on the chin. They also believe they are fast enough to be able to match footsteps with Pacquiao.
Even a Mosley in his prime will be no match against the speed and explosiveness of Manny at the welterweight or even at the super welterweight level.
Pacquiao conditioning coach Alex Ariza is right. Mosley will be bouncing his feet for three rounds. Beyond that he will move like ship anchor is chained on both feet. No way can a 39 year old keep pace with Manny Pacquiao.
Pacquiao-Mosley in April? That would be a short day in the office for Manny.
