Saturday, May 7, 2011 sees the world's number one pound-for-pound boxer, Manny Pacquiao, step back into the ring. Pacquiao will face "Sugar" Shane Mosley on Showtime pay-per-view. The PPV broadcast starts at 9:00 p.m. ET.
How They Match Up
Shane Mosley - 46-6-1 (39 KO), 39 years old, 5'9", 74" reach, Official Weight - 147 lbs
Manny Pacquiao - 52-3-2 (38 KO), 32 years old, 5'6", 67" reach, Official Weight - 145 lbs
Last 5 Fights
Shane Mosley - Draw - Sergio Mora, Loss (Dec) - Floyd Mayweather Jr., Win (TKO-9) Antonio Margarito, Win (KO-12) Ricardo Mayorga, Loss (Dec) Miguel Cotto
Manny Pacquiao - Win (Dec) - Antonio Margarito, Win (Dec) - Joshua Clottey, Win (TKO-12) - Miguel Cotto, Win (KO-2) - Ricky Hatton, Win (TKO-8) - Oscar De La Hoya
The Breakdown
Manny Pacquiao will enter the ring as a huge favorite. His ability to seemingly move to whatever weight class he wants and dominate his opponents has been amazing. Still, from the pre-fight hype one would be led to believe that all Manny has to do is show up, step in the ring and have his hand raised. It's not going to be that easy.
Shane Mosley is a fading star, yes. But he's a fading star who is battle tested and still possesses shocking power in both hands. He's also the bigger man by several inches. Once the fighters rehydrate after the weigh-in it's possible that Mosley will have upwards of a ten pound weight advantage.
But, as we saw in Pacquiao's fight against Margarito, being the smaller man does not mean he will be outmuscled or "fight small."
Pacquiao does have a bad habit lately of standing a bit stationary at times and inviting his opponent to hit him. If Mosley can land one of his powerful right hand shots he can drop Manny, even with Pacquiao's solid chin. Unfortunately for Mosley, if Manny decides to use movement and speed, he just can't match foot or handspeed in 2011. He just is not the quick and athletic fighter he was early in his career.
Everything comes down to Manny's ability to avoid the right hand and overwhelm with speed and combinations. It should be something that he is able to do, but Mosley has beaten men who "should" have beaten him in the past and he'll be doing everything he can to make it happen again.
Prediction
I spent weeks leading up to this fight thinking about how easy of a night it would be or Pacquiao. But over the last few days I've been unable to shake the feeling that something is going to happen. Manny can be hit, and Mosley can hit hard. It's entirely possible (hell, it's entirely likely) that Pacquiao busts Mosley up and even knocks him out. But I'm going to go with my gut and pick Mosley to score the TKO win somewhere between rounds 4 and 6.