The most interesting parts of Manny Pacquiao’s points victory of Shane Mosley happened outside the Las Vegas ring. That’s how boring the fight was.
On the day of the fight, Pacquiao was involved in a minor road accident while returning from early-morning mass. The car he was travelling in was rear-ended by his security van. No one was hurt, which was a huge relief to boxer, trainer, promoter and the van’s driver.
So much for the drama before the first bell. Once the hum-drum, predictable fight was over, Pacquiao revealed that he’d had cramps in both legs. Yet he still managed to retain his WBO welterweight title convincingly.
No wonder promoter Bob Arum felt moved to call Pacquiao “the greatest fighter I’ve ever seen”. And, at 79, he’s seen plenty.
Boxing promoters are given to hyperbole, but in view of the lacklustre performance both men gave in the ring, which provoked booing from the MGM crowd, Arum probably felt he needed to spice things up.
If Arum sounded like an imbongi (praise poet), Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach sounded prescient.
He advised Mosley to give up the fight game. It was sensible advice for a fighter who had once been a three-division world champion, but no longer cut the mustard in the same ring as an eight-division one. For one thing, Mosley is 39 and looked it.
Pacquiao’s victory (53-3-2, 38 KOs) was his 14th straight win. It added to an impressive array of conquests, which include an eighth-round knockout of Oscar de la Hoya, a 12th-round knockout of Miguel Cotto, and consecutive unanimous decisions over Joshua Clottey and Antonio Margarito, all of whom are past world champions.
Mosley had vowed to come out fighting, vowed to take on Pacquiao toe-to-toe. Not only did he fail, he was dropped for only the third time in his boxing career. A third-round left hook by Pacquiao did the damage.
After that, Pacquiao stalked his prey rather like a man on his first date hoping for a kiss, than a world champion in search of a KO punch.
Attempting to explain the dreariness of the bout, Arum said it was becoming a pattern with Pacquiao. “Manny doesn’t allow any opponent to fight his fight. He takes the opponent out of the fight because of his speed and because of his power.”
It was a fair summing up
Next in line to follow this pattern could be WBO and WBC lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez, or WBC and WBO junior welterweight king Tim Bradley, or IBF junior welterweight champion Zab Judah. Whoever it is, the outcome is unlikely to be any different, even though Marquez, 37, once fought a draw with Pacquiao, 32.
The only unpredictable fight would be one between Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather junior.
“I’m satisfied with what I’ve done in boxing,” said Pacquiao.
