The hype has begun.
US television giant CBS kicked off its high-wire promotion of the Manny Pacquiao-Shane Mosley fight with the first episode of the Fight Camp 360 Saturday with a little twist.
CBS is no longer selling Pacquiao the fighter.
It is selling the fight just as badly as Top Rank?s Bob Arum wants to have the cash register ringing. In this age of the world wide web, there is nothing in both fighters? ring records to exploit anymore. Virtually all highlights of their fights are stored somewhere in the internet if they are not yet on YouTube.
CBS began its episode by giving the audience a glimpse of what Pacquiao is today and how much he now owns his time. The poor CBS crew finally gets to experience what it takes to do an interview with Manny ? by waiting endlessly for the world boxing champion to emerge from his usual late self and dealing with his rock star status.
But as with HBO?s 24/7, the CBS first Fight Camp 360 teaser is almost everything but boxing. We trust that CBS will calibrate its pre-fight hype by analyzing the fight more for its succeeding episodes.
Seriously, does Mosley really pose a serious threat to Pacquiao? Of course. Anybody who won world boxing titles in three different weight divisions and who has a knockout ratio of 72 percent while never ever been stopped certainly has a very good shot.
Mosley has been around for quite sometime and has traded punches with the best in the welterweight and middleweight divisions. While still dangerous, many however are saying he has seen better days. His last two fights were dismal showings by his standards leading boxing observers and fans to say he may already be a shot fighter.
Nevertheless, Mosley is only two years detached from one of his spectacular victories ? a brutal knockout of the once feared Antonio Margarito and he gave Miguel Angel Cotto his full.
In his prime, Mosley was one of the quicker and speedier fighters. He knows how to finish and his combinations were among the best.
Even at 39 years old, he can still outwork many of the welterweights today.
But against Pacquiao, Shane will have to dig deep into his pocket and hope that his reflexes will, for the last time, be there for him to pull the biggest upset in boxing.
Time and again, I have always said that you have to tag Pacquiao with five to six power punches in a row to have a chance of winning and hope that a lucky punch end will his night.
Through the years, however, Manny has learned the art of avoiding situations where he will be at the mercy of his opponent. He is also now demonstrating his ability to take the punches of the heaviest hitters in the game.
Anybody who hopes to frustrate Pacquiao must be able to establish his dominance and make the Filipino champion respect his power. He must out-punch and out-power Pacquiao the way Erik Morales did during their first fight and do it three minutes per round over 12 rounds. Or how Juan Manuel Marquez showed Manny his willingness to trade punches anywhere inside the ring.
Never give Manny the distance from where he can dart in and out with his powerful and lighting quick combinations. The only way to out-hustle Manny is from the inside. That means cutting the ring and driving him into the corner.
And don?t ever forget. Be strong enough to withstand those powerful left straights and right hooks of Pacquiao who is no longer the wild swinging lefty sensation. Pacquiao is now already a complete two-fisted fighter who has perfected the art of slugging and mixing it out or boxing from the distance.
So will Mosley be able to do that? Shane may be able to take and roll over the punches of Pacquiao some of the times but I doubt if he can do that over twelve rounds. Just look at how Shane began breathing from his mouth in the fourth round when the faded against Floyd Mayweather Jr. and how he was out-dueled by Cotto.
Shane may occasionally land some combinations but I do not think Manny will flinch. In his last three fights, Manny offered himself in front of Margarito, Cotto and Joshua Clottey by allowing them to hit him with their best shots but they never came close to knocking down the eight-division boxing champion. I certainly don?t think Mosley will do any better.
