Mosley still needs to lose weight for Pacquiao fight

LAS VEGAS, Nevada - Pacquiao's opponent "Sugar" Shane Mosley arrived at the MGM Hotel and Casino aboard his own decorated bus.

Mosley said it is indeed an electrifying fight week for both fighters. On Saturday night (Sunday in Manila), he will know if he is up to challenge the 8 world division champion Manny Pacquiao.

“I work very hard, I'm sure Manny worked hard and I'm expecting to have a great fight," he said.

Mosley admitted that he still needs to shed a few pounds before the weigh-in on Friday and meet the required weight for the welterweight division.

“My weight is good right now, I'm around the weight. I just need to cut a couple of pounds, but I'm good, and I'll be good for the weigh-in on Friday," he said.

Meanwhile, Top Rank CEO Bob Arum confirmed that Hollywood and sports superstars and notable personalities, are expected to be in attendance to watch the Pacquiao-Mosley live at MGM Grand Garden Arena.

“You cannot believe the number of people coming from Hollywood, the number of big business tycoons who will be in. It will be a star-studded audience," Arum said.

It has been two years since Las Vegas played host to a Pacquiao fight, and with Manny’s fight against Shane Mosley on Saturday night, Las Vegas is expected to be filled with another exciting event that will leave an impression in the world of boxing.

Source: ABS-CBNNews.com

Pacquiao – Mosley: The Prediction

It’s clear Pacquiao owns the more significant categories. Mosley may have a slight edge in ring generalship, but it may not be enough to offset Pacquiao’s overall dominance.

Keys to Victory: PACQUIAO

Freddie Roach’s gameplan is simple, avoid Shane Mosley at all costs and stave off the early onslaught. Team Pacquiao believes, and for good reason, that Mosley will go all out in the opening rounds in trying to score an upset. Then when the time is right, pick Mosley apart with angles and combination punching to possibly score a knockout in the middle to late rounds. Pacquiao must keep the fight at the center of the ring and avoid being caught on the ropes, Mosley is a different type of power puncher and has better knockout power compared to Margarito or Cotto.

Keys to Victory: MOSLEY

I feel sorry for Mosley, he’s a living legend, an ambassador of the sport that we all love so much yet he is counted out so quickly against the Filipino. Aside from the ‘punchers chance’ everyone says he has, Mosley has a much more logical chance of trying to win the fight on points. If he employs a good powerful jab to time Pacquiao whenever he tries to launch an attack, he can frustrate Pacquiao and throw him off his rhythm. Mosley then must use his intelligence and cutoff the ring and try to corner Pacquiao to do some real damage. Both Margarito and Cotto were able to have some success with this and there’s no reason why Shane can’t do the same. If he wins enough rounds just fighting smart, he may be able to keep the fight close and leave it up to the judges. He has a better chance of winning by decision than by knockout.

THE PREDICTION:

This fight, when it was conceived, was frowned upon as a complete mismatch. And frankly, nothing has changed since then. At this point in their respective careers, Pacquiao will simply be too much for Mosley. Pacquiao is faster, stronger and more durable than Mosley at this stage. It’s a mountain that is too steep for Mosley to climb – however, one punch can turn that mountain into a hill.

If everything moves logically, then expect Pacquiao to score a late round TKO or cruise to a Unanimous Decision. Judging by Pacquiao’s last few fights: He went the full twelve with Miguel Cotto (although there was a stoppage); He was never able to seriously hurt Clottey; and Margarito was able to hear the final bell – all points to Pacquiao not being able to have that ‘one-punch’ knockout power that he once had specially in the Welterweight division where fighters are big enough to take his shots. However, speed kills and that’s exactly what he’s used to beat the sport’s elite, even at 147 lbs. Mosley will be a step too slow especially late in the fight. He won’t have the speed or the stamina to thwart Pacquiao’s attacks which get stronger and busier as the fight progresses. Pacquiao will use volume punching to batter and bruise Mosley en route to a late round stoppage (barring the upset of course which has been the story of 2011).

Source: fightcardboxing.net

Arum: Golden Boy, Mayweathers impinged on Pacquiao endorsements

Those who have known him for a long time probably refrain from mentioning elephants around liberal Democrat and onetime Robert F. Kennedy regime Assistant United States Attorney, Bob Arum.

Arum doesn’t party with the pachyderms but he’s been a solid supporter for Democrats such as Nevada Sen. Harry Reid and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

But Arum is elephantine in one way. Like the circus animals, Arum never forgets.

In light of Manny Pacquiao’s mainstream commercial deals, including brand new ones with Hewlett-Packard for their tablet computers and the State Street Produce Company, a purveyor of fruits and vegetables grown in Mexico to American restaurants, Arum remarked about why he’s still angry at promotional rival, Golden Boy.

“That is why,” Arum said, “I will never forgive Golden Boy. This kid with the big smile is getting good, clean endorsement deals. One reason, besides the smile, is he is noncontroversial.

“I can never forgive Golden Boy or the Mayweathers for starting those false rumors about the kid using performance enhancing drugs (PEDs). I mean, the kid had never even heard of them before that, coming where he came from.

“Who knows how many deals and endorsements Manny could’ve gotten sooner than this. The answer is some advertisers might have been scared off.

“The answer is we’ll never know.”

Pacquiao sued Oscar De La Hoya and Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy and the Mayweathers over those public remarks about the Piny Idol using illegal drugs to fuel his sensational peformances. The lawsuit is pending.

Source: Examiner.com

Mosley has a shot so don't count him out

If someone held a gun to my head and forced me to make a prediction, it wouldn't be a hard one to make. I predict that Manny Pacquiao will defeat Shane Mosley. With that said, is it possible that Shane Mosley will shock the world and defeat Manny Pacquiao? Sure it is. Why not? Crazier things have happened in sports, no?

Maybe Mosley's last two fights were just bad style match-ups. After all, one of those opponents did happen to be Floyd Mayweather Jr. Last I heard, Floyd was a pretty damn good fighter. Perhaps Mosley has a lot more fuel in the tank than folks are thinking. If so, this fight may just be closer than what most are thinking.

Check out a Podcast with Manny Pacquiao HERE

Shane has shown signs of gassing out in fights as of late. I know this much, if he gasses out against Manny Pacquiao it's going to be a really bad night for him. Manny will not get tired, this much I know. The guy can fight 20 round fights if he wants to. Mosley will have to show up in the best fight shape of his life, and be prepared to go the full 12.

Mosley as most of you know did manage to hurt Floyd Mayweather. It was in the 2nd round when Mosley lit up Floyd with a nasty right hand. If Mosley is able to land the same kind of punch on Pacquiao, it's going to be interesting to see how he handles that. Can Mosley time a punch and catch Manny coming inside? Yes indeed he can. Will he? That's a bigger question.

Everybody knows how good Freddie Roach is at creating game-plans. Everybody knows how good Manny Pacquiao is at executing the game-plan. They will be ready for what Mosley brings into the ring, but with that said, Mosley has power. Pacquiao's defense is not exactly something to write home about. There is a remote possibility that Mosley can pull this off.

Mississippians chimed in with their thoughts over the weekend. I attended the Mississippi Braves AA baseball game (Farm team for the Atlanta Braves) and got some of the fans thoughts on the big May 7th fight. I spoke with Jimmy Cotton, an old school throwback boxing fan. Jimmy believes that Mosley has a shot as well, "Look man, Manny Pacquiao ain't got no defense. He can get hit fairly easily and Mosley intends on doing a lot of hitting. Mosley can do this, he can win."

May 7th is just a few days away. Pacquiao will either put another notch in his belt and chalk up yet one more win, or Mosley will make headlines as defeating one of the greatest fighters of all time.

Source: Examiner.com

Mosley ready for anything

Fightnews spoke Shane Mosley (46-6-1, 39 KOs) trainer Nazim Richardson prior to his departure for Las Vegas, Nevada along with the rest of team Mosley. Mosley will fight Manny Pacquiao (52-3-2, 38 KOs) this Saturday May 7 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Richardson said he wouldn’t be suprised at all if Pacquiao was looking to outbox Mosley instead of seeking out a slugfest. Should that be the case Richardson says he has Mosley well prepared.

“People should not automatically think that Pacquiao will just come straight at Shane and go toe to toe,” said Richardson. “Honestly I can see Pacquiao using a lot of movement against Shane and I have a gameplan in place for that should he do so. A lot of people don’t understand how hard of a puncher Shane Mosley is. So much so that he changes opponents original strategies once he hits them clean. A prime example was the Mosley-Miguel Cotto fight. Cotto started out aggressive but once he was hit solid he switched to boxing. It would really be impressive if Shane was able to beat Pacquiao by decision. Pacquiao because of his aggressive nature leaves openings where a knockout could present itself but to beat him by decision means you would have to control him for the better part of 12 rounds.”

Source: fightnews.com

Images from L.A.: Manny Pacquiao on his way to Las Vegas for Mosley super fight

Moments ago I spoke with Mitch Carter, the personal bus driver for Manny Pacquiao and countless other Top Rank stars, as he was posted up at the Wild Card Boxing Club in Los Angeles to check out Manny Pacquiao's final training session inside of the facility. Mitch informed me that he was mere moments away from gathering Pacquiao and his crew and heading out to Las Vegas so that the Filipino champion can settle into the area as his date with Shane Mosley this Saturday inches closer.

On this Monday Pacquiao could be found finishing up the final workout inside of the Wild Card for his fight with Mosley, which is looked at as the biggest event of the year thus far. He spent the past few days inside of a Nike Vault Store in downtown Los Angeles and releasing his new cologne 'MP8 - Scent of a Champion' at a nearby Ron Robinson/Fred Segal store off of Melrose.

By all reports Pacquiao has had a sterling camp thus far, although strength and conditioning expert Alex Ariza showed his concern a few weeks back when I talked to him about Manny's progress, stating that maybe his charge was in danger of peaking too soon. For this bout Pacquiao has been sparring the likes of Shawn Porter, Karim Mayfield, David Rodela, and Raymundo Beltran.

In an interesting note, Beltran will be seeing action near the Vegas area on May 13th when he faces off with Uganda's Sharif 'The Lion' Bogere in Primm, Nevada.

Source: Examiner.com

Sparring mate rooting for Pacquiao

MANILA, Philippines – A sparring mate of Manny Pacquiao is confident the boxing superstar will prevail over foe “Sugar” Shane Mosley in their match this weekend.

When Shawn Porter was asked on how Pacquiao will edge out Mosley in their welterweight match on Saturday (Sunday in Manila), the trainer just told ABS-CBN News: “I don’t make predictions but you know who I’m rooting for. God bless him and wishing him the best.”

Pacquiao has geared up to defend his World Boxing Organization welterweight crown against Mosley, Porter said.

He added that the Fighter of the Decade has been training intensely at the Wild Card Gym in California to prepare against the poised Mosley.

“(We’re) just really pushing each other, trying to keeping the excitement up, keeping the intensity up, keeping the energy up. Just trying to make it fun in there,” Porter said.

“I would say right now, right there, if not above where I last trained with him. He's ready for the fight,” he added.

Pacquiao is expected to arrive in Las Vegas, Nevada Monday (Tuesday in Manila). He will take on Mosley at the MGM Grand Arena, located in the city.

Pacquiao reiterated that he is not looking down on the veteran Mosley as an opponent.

“Ngayon talagang 'yung sakripisyo natin matindi. ‘Di ko ina-underestimate si Mosley. ‘Di dapat magkaroon ng kumpiyansa,” he said.

(I’ve really sacrificed a lot for this fight. I am not underestimating Mosley. I am not being overconfident for this match.)

Source: ABS-CBNnews.com