Casual Talk from Hollywood, California – The scheduled match between Manny Pacquiao and Sugar
Shane Mosley on May 7 at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada has been the subject of
a heated debate in recent days. Armchair critics hurl insults toward Top Rank Godfather Bob Arum when he flew with a “predistined agendum” from Las Vegas last week to the Philippines to attend Pacquiao’s 32nd birthday bash in General Santos City. Arum may have thought that it’s only proper to formally present the resolute intangible gift of a “done deal match-up” in the light of media cover-up, as alleged, for the latter’s next fight. And so Golden Boy Promotions and its cohorts went on to drumbeat a suspicion that Pacquiao-Mosley fight has been framed to happen under the dictate of Arum’s economic theory of utility and standard deviation of win or loss ratio of probability. Even then, Arum has to somehow present the probable choices inclusive of their respective financial advantage to Pacquiao. And so the detractors cry out foul.
To most boxing fans, “It’s the better choice”. To some, “It’s garbage!”
Ranked second to Floyd Mayweather, Jr. in the welterweight division by Boxrec.com, Pacquiao chooses Mosley, who ranks third, to be his most formidable foe ahead of the other remaining two options: Juan Manuel Marquez and Andre’ Berto. Both Pacquiao and Arum have brought a bitter divisive blow, rear-ending Golden Boy Promotions and its cohorts onto a tectonic Santa Buster.
But, at this stage of Pacquiao’s career even though he is still at his prime, he has to stick to a calculated risk.
The risk being that Pacquiao at 32, a Congressman representing Sarangani, Philippines and one who aims to become President of the Philippines when he reaches 42, has to keep himself look good on his
upcoming last fights
before he retires. He has to sustain his winning transformation for his political career in the Philippines, making sure that his charisma before the camera when he fights in the ring would enhance his invincibility even more and thereby bolster his appealing image to the sentimental voting public of the Philippines. And mind you, his remaining fights to come would just be built on two factors: sustaining his legacy in the crumbling boxing world and repackaging himself for a far better wholesome pay and for a better imaging rhetoric. In other words, risky matches should be squashed for the sake of these two factors. Sure, from now on, Pacquiao’s matches have to be “politically correct”, so to speak.
Of course, Mosley is a better catalyst to capture a fair household percentage of the greater Black-American market which has over 41 million heads as per 2010 US census. Aging Mosley being over-the-hill at 39 still is a good Pay-Per-View draw … but only with a Pacquiao factor. In fact, for Mosley’s fight against Sergio Mora last September, fellow Yahoo!Sports writer Kevin Iole said “Golden Boy Promotions had to be happy with the live gate (of 13,591 fans at Staples Center), though it would be a shock if the pay-per-view figures were more than 150,000”. Mosley’s fight against Mayweather, Jr. generated 1.4 million buys, which suggests Mayweather, Jr. has the marketability to make a future bout with Manny Pacquiao a mega-fight. Mosley is seemingly done. Even at his age, he is done!
But for Mosley, age doesn’t matter. In fact, it’s like he has just won a multi-million dollar lottery jackpot. Yes, it’s potentially the biggest pay of all his fights since his rise to the top of professional boxing. And that is plus a bonus chance to win over Pacquiao by knockout!
After Bob Hopkins has shown a brilliant performance against Jean Pascal that ended a majority draw, it looks like Mosley’s lackluster performances both against Floyd Mayweather, Jr. and Sergio Mora have been forgotten. And so Mosley has just won big time out of that loss to Mayweather, Jr. via a unanimous decision and out of his win over Mora by a split decision, both of which give him a better margin of false hope to the less informed boxing public that he would do better than Marquez and Berto, if not knock Pacquiao out during their upcoming bout this Spring. Yes, we might just hope aging factor would just be lost in the subconsciousness of the boxing public. It’s pathetic. But, that’s what marketing on a calculated risk is all about.
Questioning the making of Pacquiao-Mosley fight is almost a blasphemy, at least in the mind of Arum. Whether such scheduled match is a pre-judged choice by Arum over the prospect of instead having Juan Manuel Marquez or Andre Berto fight Pacquiao is a matter of right.
So question it and it’s still Mosley-Pacquiao on May 7.
Like what highly esteemed dental-surgeon-tuned journalist Ed de la Vega says, “Suck it up!”
