The Sugar Shane Mosley-Manny Pacquiao fight, running in high gear but lacking in drama, needs to get infused to get more people enthused.
What’s sadly lacking among the dramatis personae, starting with Huggy Bear Pacman and Mellow Fellow Mosley, is a villain.
The wrestling guys, Mr. Vince McMahon and the others, must be laughing at boxing.
SEE PREFIGHT PROMO FROM COX CABLE, ARIZONA HERE.
“Look at these fools,” the grappling gang must be saying. “They don’t have a real heel or a single manufactured one. It’s all Goody Two Shoes in that saccharine promotion.”
Think about it.
Pacquiao, well liked even in countries he has “conquered” such as Mexico and the toast of Hollywood ranging from alter cocker Don Rickles to young and vibrant Jimmy Kimmel. And Manny is a respected Congressman in his homeland to boot.
Unlike the feared, dreaded “trapos,” Pacman is the politician who money can’t buy.
Mosley has to be one of the most well-regarded Hall Of Fame ring talents ever to ply his pugilistic trade.
His BALCO blemish is just that, a minor blemish and his illegal drug usage has been cloaked as a matter of ignorance rather than just cheating. Whatever, it doesn’t linger when people conjure up their image of the green-eyed, perpetually smiling fighter.
Ex-wives, former lawyers, promoters he has canned, trainers and cornermen who were “made redundant” (a cheeky British way of saying got fired), none of these utters nasty word about the Pomona Kid, at least not for public consumption.
Pacquiao is Tweedlenice and Mosley then is Tweedlenicer. Or vice versa.
Mosley is so apolitical he doesn’t even question Obama’s birth certificate.
Pacquiao may privately recognize how neatly Floyd Mayweather Jr. fills the bill for the man many love to hate but, publicly, Manny talks about how he hopes his potentially greatest rival gets all his personal and legal problems worked out.
So, leaving the fighters to their Boy Scout images, we then look to the corners.
Same bad news, maybe even worse.
