:boxing: ...It'll Do (At Least, For Me…), Part 3:: Pacquiao vs. Mosley

When this fight was first announced awhile back, I was looking forward to Manny Pacquiao fighting "Sugar" Shane Mosley, even though so many downed the fight, and doing a nice write-up on it, too.

However, duty (aka "work") beckons, and I have not had a whole lot of time to post anything (hence the lack of updates as of late). But I do not want to let this fight pass by without saying anything on it (which everyone and their mother are now hotly anticipating). On the other hand, there's not a whole lot of time left, so let's keep things short and sweet…

Many have written off Mosley, especially after the Mayweather fight, but let's keep two things in mind with tonight's fight: one, he's not coming off of a near two-year hiatus and two, he's the closest thing in terms of style, speed, and strength to Pacquiao. Pacquiao has had trouble against those that fight tenaciously like him (i.e. Morales, and more importantly, Juan Manuel Marquez) and a fully-prepared Mosley can be totally within his means to take out Pacquiao.

However, let's keep two other things in mind: one, Mosley has shown to shut down mentally when pressed with hard competition or when he is not in the driver's seat (a la Mayweather)--far more than Pacquiao--and two, Mosley hasn't really fought anyone like Pacquiao in ages, if really ever. In theory, he should be able to beat him, but the real question may not be if Pacquiao can handle Mosley, but if Mosley can handle Pacquiao. And the Filipino has not been taking this fight lightly either, regardless of the odds…

Prediction: Mosley, TKO8. Call me hard-headed, but in spite of my record of picking against Pacquiao (and being proven wrong BAD) and popular (and probably better) judgement, I am still giving Mosley a puncher's chance that he'll prove himself a tough enough challenge and make Pacquiao uncomfortable in fighting him by willfully trading with him and not backing down in the face of his offense. Yeah, Pacquiao may stand a good, if not better, chance at stopping him (same round as above?) and prove me wrong once again, but I have always thought Mosley stood as great a threat as any to beat both Mayweather and Pacquiao. He blew it with one of them, but perhaps he won't blow it with the other.

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Outcome: Pacquiao, UD. Heh, well, it looks like I gave Mosley a little too much credit once again, as it appears that he spent most of the night on his bicycle than engaging Pacquiao. Pacman being a bit tentative was not surprising, but Mosley's lack of action was. At least the former appeared to be making something of it. Considering his past fights, perhaps Mosley needs to hang it up if he is not willing to make a fight of things. I still stand by my pre-bout expectations, but yeah…