Pacquiao-Mosley

Manny Pacquiao and Shane Mosley square off in less than two weeks in Vegas.  This one's an enigma.

Should we care?

The match up has been criticized left and right.  Shane's looked less than impressive in his last two fights.  Pacquiao's been on fire.  This fight's been plagued with mismatch headlines.

And yet I believe Mosley may do better than people think.  First, Mosley is absolutely determined to win this fight, no doubt.  He is mentally prepared.  Secondly, age may not be what has held him up lately.  In his fight with Margarito, only two years ago now, he dominated.  His previous two fights could have just been flukes.  And, still, he had his moments in each.  Third, styles make fights.  Mosley, like Pacquiao, likes a brawl.  Sergio Mora and Floyd Mayweather are not aggressors, whereas Pacquiao most definitely is.  Mosley generally does better in offensive fights.  If he's able to work through Pacquiao's barrages of punches to land a few of his own, we may have a great fight.  Mosley packs a hard punch and could probably stun Pacquiao.  That said, very few have been able to consistently withstand Pacquiao's flurries, and Mosley tends to try to tie up with guys prematurely (often just getting hit some more).  Mosley's key to victory: take Pacquiao's punches to land a few of his own and don't tie up.

Meanwhile, Pacquiao, according to trainer Freddie Roach, is in his best training camp ever.  He and Roach both have explicitly stated how foolish it would be to discount Shane Mosley.  That said, Roach intends for Pacquiao to be the first person to ever knock him out.  That's certainly not out of the question, and who doesn't love a good knockout?

If both guys follow their game plans and both have a good night (and that's a big "if") this could be a great fight.  Mosley could give a shockingly good performance, whichever way it goes.  So does JD predict the upset?  Great question.  This fight is very hard to predict.  I'll have to get back to you on that after I watch some more of Mosley's old fights.

Three years ago people would have laughed at this match up.  Mosley was a Super Welterweight and Pacquiao a Super Featherweight.  Mosley would be too much for Pacquiao.  Three years and four weight classes later, well, people are still laughing at the match up, but with the opposite reasoning.  Fancy that.

-JD