There. I’ve said it.
Now, whether that will continue to be my official prediction as we get closer to the May 7th date, well,
that remains to be seen.
However, despite the talk of the 39-year old Shane Mosley being shot and over-the-hill, I do feel that Mosley will be Pacquiao’s toughest opponent since Juan Manuel Marquez.
Hatton, Cotto, Clottey, Margarito…I’m on record as saying that all would be easy fights for the Filipino Buzzsaw. Stylistically, they were all either too slow, too one-dimensional, or too emasculated to be considered competitive foes. It also didn’t help the case that all of them were veteran fighters coming into the contest following recent career-defining, career threatening losses. They were teetering on the edge of destruction even before stepping into the ring with Pacquiao…all Manny did was give them a push off the cliff and a nice little kick in the rear end on the way down.
Mosley is also coming off a one-sided loss (a May, 2009 boxing clinic at the hands of Floyd Mayweather Jr.) and a dull, listless performance against Sergio Mora in September.
But the difference between Mosley and Pacquiao’s last four is that “Sugar” Shane is smart, multi-dimensional and associated with one of the brightest boxing minds in the game, Naazim Richardson.
Richardson has already publicly stated that he’s confident of a major upset when Mosley and Pacquiao meet, attributing Manny’s “come forward” style as ideal for a fighter like Mosley.
The fact of the matter is that Mosley is not as good as he once was and, likely, not even as good as he was against Floyd Mayweather last May, but fighters like Mosley stay dangerous long after their physical skills begin to fade.
All of the naturally larger fighters that Pacquiao has faced thus far were big guys who simply didn’t know how to fight a smaller guy. The bigger fighter should smother the small guy, make him work and not allow the naturally smaller opponent to use his speed advantage.
