?It almost seemed like this whole fight was set up to bait Mayweather,? said, amateur coach of Burbank Boxing Club, Steve Harpst upon my return from covering the biggest boxing event of this year that left a lot of fans very disappointed. ?And what?s up with constant glove touching?? continued Harpst who founded Burbank Boxing Club sixteen years ago:? When did they become in laws??
Those were the sentiments I heard from a lot of heart broken fans. The media built up was tremendous. According to most in the press, myself included, this was supposed to be a dynamic battle of elite fighters.? I love a good scrap,? was a quote from Shane Mosley. ?My concern is how to make people happy,? said Manny Pacquiao prior to the fight. Unfortunately, his concern was not realized.
Jam packed MGM Grand Garden Arena was buzzing with anticipation as accompanied by Rocky theme song, cross over star, Manny Pacman Pacquiao smiled doing his walk to the ring. It was a perfect set up for an epic battle that would never take place. From the onset the crowd roared every time their hero, the best pound for pound fighter, Manny Pacquiao threw a punch. Every one in the arena went completely out of control when Pacman dropped Mosley in the third stanza with a crisp left hand.?He surprised me with that power, with that knockdown. That’s the most legitimate knockdown on me in a long time,? said Mosley who had the fight beaten out of him with that one punch.
?It?s amazing. He?s cut from my cloth so I had to box tonight,? continued Mosley, who some times calls himself Blacksican, because he is a black man who sometimes fights like a Mexican. Too bad this wasn?t the time. From that point on Mosley didn?t want any part of Manny Pacquiao?s power; he danced and moved away and clinched every time he felt the heat and made sure he tapped gloves with a respectful champion any time he had a chance.
As if choreographed, round after round, Mosley moved away and Pacquaio pressed forward, but not too hard; the champion moved as if he did not have full control of his legs. ?I couldn’t move,? explained Filipino idol after the fight:?It?s the same thing that happened to me against Marquez. It?s been happening to me more lately.?
?It sounds cruel to say it, but what the crowd didn?t want was to see Pacquiao touching gloves and behaving like the gentleman he is,? wrote an astute boxing scribe from Great Britain, Graham Houston:? No, they wanted to see Pacquiao leave the nice guy part of him outside the ropes and get in there and get his 39-year-old opponent out of the fight.? They almost got their wish in the eleventh stanza after Pacquaio got off the canvass following a push from Mosley that was ruled a knock down by referee Kenny Bayless.
Injustice of the call woke up violence inside the eight division world champion who assaulted Mosley with explosive flurries reminiscent of Pacquiao of old who destroyed Erik Morales in three rounds a few years ago.
Veteran Mosley knew how to survive and took solace in hearing a final bell on his feet.
?Forget this fight,? exclaimed disenchanted fan from New York who I met at the buffet brunch, the day following the big event:? Why don?t Manny and Mayweather get it together and fight already, because that?s the only fight we want to see.?
?After what we saw last night,? interjected his friend from Miami:? Mayweather should jump in and fight Pacquaio right away, blood test or not. If Pacquaio had a hard time touching Mosley he would never come close to touching Mayweather. Floyd would run circles around him.?
Would Floyd Mayweather take the bait?
Contact Igor Frank at [email protected]
