Now that Floyd Mayweather Jr. apparently has once again rejected a fight with Manny Pacquiao ? this time, Mayweather reportedly wanted $100 million – we?re left with yet another consolation prize.
Pacquiao is fighting Shane Mosley on May 7 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
It?s an act we?ve seen before.
For more than a year now, while unable to come to terms with Mayweather, Pacquiao has settled on lesser opposition. First it was Joshua Clottey, and then it was Antonio Margarito.
Both fights were held at Cowboys Stadium, and both were box office hits. Inside the ring, they were one-sided affairs that failed to live up to the hype.
Pacquaio-Mosley appears to simply be the latest version.
From the moment it was announced in December, the fight was condemned as nothing more than an attempt by Pacquiao?s promoter, Bob Arum, to generate another big payday.
For himself, and for Pacquiao.
Such criticism is not without merit. Mosley will be four months shy of his 40th birthday when he steps in the ring in two weeks, and recent fights suggest his age isn?t just a number.
A year ago, he couldn?t pull the trigger against Mayweather in an embarrassingly one-sided decision loss. True, he hurt Mayweather in the second round, but he was mysteriously silent and unable to land a meaningful punch the rest of the fight.
Then in September, he was held to an equally embarrassing draw by Sergio Mora, an opponent a younger ?Sugar? Shane would have devoured in a single gulp.
Then there?s the Arum hype machine, which has been humming on all cylinders for months. The legendary Top Rank promoter recently celebrated his 45th anniversary of promoting fights. At 79, no one in the business does it better than Arum.
He?ll have the media whipped into a frenzy by the first bell, thanks to his ?Fight Camp 360? series on Showtime and CBS and his own hyperbole.
?Nobody can count Shane Mosley out,? Arum said this past week at an open workout at trainer Freddie Roach?s Wild Card Gym in Hollywood. ?He?s bigger than Manny, strong, and he still has speed. He has never been stopped. He can take anyone?s best punch. You can?t hurt him.?
Never mind that shortly after Mosley?s fight against Mora, Arum compared Mosley to Bernard Hopkins:
?He still knows how to fight, but who wants to pay to see him now? His fights are not very scintillating. What you see with Hopkins, we?re beginning to see with Mosley.?
When he had nothing to sell, Arum said Mosley was an old man. Now he paints him as a threat to the best fighter on the planet.
No, Mosley is simply a recognizable name to even the most casual boxing fan. It?s this casual fan who largely dictates the success or failure of a pay-per-view bout.
Arum figured Mosley will sell better than Juan Manuel Marquez or Andre Berto. And he may be right.
He also knows Mosley probably stands little chance of beating his fighter.
Mosley once was one of the best fighters of his era. He?s a future hall of famer, for sure, based on his triumphs over Oscar De La Hoya alone.
Maybe he has one great fight left. Maybe he?s motivated to redeem himself after Mayweather and Mora to prove the critics wrong.
He will be the bigger fighter and he will have a puncher?s chance when he meets Pacquiao on May 7.
But he?s not Mayweather, the only opponent fans want to see Pacquiao fight.
Mosley is simply the latest in a line of consolation prizes. Nothing more, nothing less.
