Well, it’s time for the pound for pound king Manny Pacquiao to make the doughnuts again, this time against another surefire Boxing Hall of Famer in “Sugar” Shane Mosley. Two fighters whose boxing career’s have clearly been going in opposite directions as of late.
Manny Pacquiao has been destroying all of his opponents, with his last fight resulting in a one-sided beatdown of Antonio Margarito. Meanwhile, “Sugar” Shane was embarrassed by Floyd Mayweather, Jr. in May of last year, and following that performance, had a draw against Sergio Mora in September. It was a fight where Mora was running around much of the night, but did land some counterpunches on Shane, though, most fans and writers feel that Mosley did enough to win that fight.
In Shane’s last two fights, both Mayweather and Mora were able to land crisp counter shots against Sugar. If these two fighters were able to land counter shots on Shane and hurt him, should boxing fans be afraid for Shane in his upcoming fight with the Pacman, given his knack for knocking boxers out ferociously?
“Sugar” Shane will be turning 40 in the fall, and has definitely lost a step since the last time he looked spectacular. This was back in the beginning of 2009, when like Pacquiao, he destroyed Antonio Margarito. Mosley took the fight to Margarito and ripped him with power punches to the head and body from all angles, breaking him down and getting a stoppage win.
With that performance, one of the best of his career, Mosley’s confidence seemed revitalized. After the Mayweather vs. Marquez fight back in September of 2009, Mosley jumped into the ring during Mayweather’s interview with Max Kellerman and demanded Mayweather to fight him.
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Mosley would of course get his crack at the undefeated Floyd Mayweather, Jr. in May of last year. In the second round, Shane caught Floyd with a great shot, and for the first time in a long time, Floyd was seriously hurt. Mosley did all he could to get Floyd out the fight, and in the process, he punched himself out. Floyd survived the second round, and for the rest of the fight Mosley looked his age.
Consider that Floyd Mayweather’s work rate in a fight is nowhere near as busy as Pacquiao’s work rate. There were times in the Mayweather/Mosley fight where Floyd rightly could have knocked Mosley out if he turned up the heat. But Mayweather plays chess in the boxing ring, and thusly, he “protected his King” and chose to carefully pick Shane apart, checkmating him via 12 round Unanimous Decision.
Make no mistake about it, Pacquiao does not “protect his King” while on the attack in a boxing match. Since his hiring of Freddie Roach, Manny’s posture and balance in the ring have steadily improved over the years, as has his versatility and all-around game.
Before Roach, Manny had an entirely reckless abandon offensive approach, without any kind of defense or variation to his attack. So even though Manny was hitting his opponents with a barrage of power shots, he was also receiving a lot of blows back in the process. Roach convinced Manny that he can still throw a barrage of punches, but he does not always have to get hit. He also taught Manny how to box aggressively without getting hit so much.
Since his loss in 2005 to Eric Morales, Pacquiao has become extremely dangerous because he can now hit you, get out of the way, and then come inside again and hit you before you know what happened. These shots that Manny throw come from all different angles, and through both accumulation and one-punch power, Pacquiao knocks out his opponents more often than not.
Given this, perhaps boxing fans should be a bit afraid for “Sugar” Shane Mosley in May. Once again, Mosley will be facing a fighter who is faster than he is, and given that Pacquiao knocked out Margarito who outweighed him by almost twenty pounds, his size won’t be of much use either.
As of right now, Pacquiao is much more of an animal in the ring than any other fighter that Mosley has ever had to face. When Mayweather had Mosley in trouble, he did not step it up and take Shane out. When that situation arises in May, with Pacquiao dominating and controlling the action, piling up points, you can be sure that he will step up the pace and knock Mosley out. He may possibly end his career in the process, just like he ended Mosley’s old pal Oscar De La Hoya’s career several years ago.
