Pacquiao-Mosley looms on Oct. 17
Manny & Mosley set to touch gloves on 10/17!!!
A super fight between pound-for-pound king Manny “PacMan” Pacquiao and world welterweight champion “Sugar” Shane Mosley looms as key members of Team Pacquiao favor such a huge matchup.
Pacquiao, 30, said he is willing to fight Mosley for a shot at his sixth title in as many weight divisions in his October 17 fight, but he leaves it to his management team to work it out.
The breakthrough came last week after Mosley (46-5-0, 39 knockouts) told Yahoo! Sports and RingTV.com that he is willing to go down to 144 pounds to book an immediate fight with Pacquiao (49-3-2, 37 by KOs).
Mosley, 37, also indicated that he has no problem getting a lower share of the fight purse, acknowledging that the Filipino icon is now the world’s best boxer.
“The main issue is Manny is the best pound-for-pound. [Floyd] Mayweather is not the best,” Mosley told Filipino journalist Snow Badua, who hosts a daily sports program on Channel 4.
Asked about a 60-40 sharing scheme suggested by Team Pacquiao, Mosley said: “We’ll negotiate. I’m not the negotiator,” said Mosley. “Whatever is fair, we will talk about it. It definitely will be a good split.”
Pacquiao’s top adviser Franklin “Jeng” Gacal told Badua in a separate interview that he welcomes Pacquiao-Mosley because the Lynwood, California fighter is “a great boxer, a great champion.”
Gacal confirmed that the catch weight issue has been settled, adding that Mosley’s decision to go down in weight was crucial to making the fight happen.
Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach earlier said he asked Mosley by phone if he’s willing to fight Pacquiao at 142, but the reigning World Boxing Association welterweight champion said “No.”
“Now, if Shane Mosley wants to fight Manny at 143 or 144, then we’re in business,” Roach said.
Roach explained that he would not allow Pacquiao to go up in weight to 147 because that would mean giving the naturally bigger Mosley a big size advantage.
Mosley, who was unbeaten as a world lightweight champion, said he would have no problem making weight to fight PacMan.
“I fought Antonio Margarito at 147, and I don’t see why losing a few more pounds to fight Manny will be a problem,” said Mosley, who has not fought below the welterweight limit in almost 10 years.
Another key member of Team Pacquiao, conditioning guru Alex Ariza, said he personally prefers Mosley over Mayweather because the former comes to fight.
Ariza also said the size issue would not be much of a factor, because Pacquiao is known to retain his vaunted speed and explosive power as he goes up in weight.
“Look, he scored sensational knockouts in the three fights when he went up in weight,” Ariza said.
Michael Rosenthal, editor of RingTV.com said Pacquioa-Mosley “might be the most thrilling matchup in years.”
“These are two gifted boxers with blazing-quick hands and feet and a willingness to take risks in order to please the fans. What more could we ask? Let’s hope that their handlers are able to put the fight together,” Rosenthal said in his weekly Ring-Yahoo! website blog. – Jun Medina
