Billy’s Boxing Blog

By William Trillo

In the weeks leading up to the fight with Manny Pacquiao, Shane Mosley made it perfectly clear that the fact that he was considered a huge sports gambling underdog was disrespectful and he was personally insulted. Coming off a subpar performance that saw Mosley crawl into a shell after a two fisted knockdown by Manny in round three boxing fans in attendance and around the world viewing on PPV should feel disrespected and insulted as well. After tasting Manny’s serving of leather Mosley went into survival mode and did not engage for the remainder of the fight. Mosley’s explanation was, “ It wasn’t the speed, it was his power, he hurt me with both hands. There were shots I saw but they could’ve been traps.”

That explanation fell on deaf ears and although he was pressed many times about his lack of throwing punches, Shane would not say he was afraid to get hit like that again, but anyone who can read between the lines knows exactly what Mosley was saying.

Manny got Shanes attention in a way no other fighter ever has and it forced the once great champion and surefire Hall of Famer to put on a pathetic performance that had the 16,000 in attendance booing loudly for the rest of the fight.

Shane claimed he didn’t hear the boos but Pacquiao heard them loud and clear and he knew why.  “I am upset, of course,” said Pacquiao. “I’m happy because I won the fight, but my first concern was to make the fans happy. I don’t care if I get hurt, as long as I give a good fight. But he felt my power – what can I do if my opponent doesn’t want to fight me? The people know that I’m trying to do my best.”

Paqcuiao admitted it was not one of his best nights but was quick to point to leg issues that slowed him down and he promised he would work with his team to never let that happen again. Leg issues or not Pacquiao did everything he could to be the first fighter to KO Mosley but with Shane in full retreat for the nine final rounds Pacquiao was not able to accomplish that task.

It’s a shame that a fight that was hyped like no other turned out to be a dismal affair, but what did we all really expect? Mosley had been on a rapid downward spiral since his fight with Ricardo Mayorga that although he won by KO he was pressed hard and only slightly ahead on the scorecards when the cigarette smoking Nicaraguan gassed out and dropped late in that fight. The Margarito fight was stunning, but I have always been of the belief that once Tony was busted with loaded hand wraps Margarito was mentally gone and would have lost to just about any fighter because of the weight of the impending legal doom sitting heavy on his shoulders. The draw with Mora was seriously and embarrassedly unimpressive and then Shane was schooled by Floyd Jr.

Why on Earth any of us bought into the hype is beyond me, but buy into it we did, both figuratively and literally, the full house in Las Vegas and impending huge PPV buys will be testament to that.

Shane gave no indication that his days in the ring are over and if we are forced to buy into his antics again…well…
Fool me once, Shame on You, Fool me twice, Shame on me.

Bob Arum Post Fight Quotes

Without question Top Rank Chief Bob Arum was the hands down winner for quotes after the fight. What he said needs no commentary; these quotes speak volumes for themselves:

“Manny would beat the crap out of Mayweather and the guy who knows that best is the student of the game Floyd Mayweather Jr. himself.”

“If  Floyd has any desire to fight Manny he will call me or Todd himself!”

On fighting Juan Manuel Marquez Arum said, “This is not a Golden Boy vs. Top rank issue. Golden Boy defamed Manny and they need to apologize to him. If he were to accept the apology I am sure business could be done with them.”

Arum also stated they are offering a revamped contract to Marquez on Monday but Golden Boy has a contract that would allow them to match the offer and put the kaybash on the Pacquiao vs Marquez rematch fight. If they do Arum has a date secured for Manny in November and plans A & B are Timothy Bradley or Zab Judah, in that order.

Speaking Of Safety First

How is it that fighters like Adrian Broner and Aaron Pryor Jr. are being awarded decision victories in bouts they fight in retreat looking only to pot shot and then run away from or tie up their opponents? Fighters like Daniel De Leon and Librado Andrade were obviously the aggressors in their respective fights with these guys but came up on the short end of poor decisions. Since when does the guy who is making the fight and landing the harder punches lose to guys who are in retreat and holding all night? It’s a sad state of affairs when these poor decisions are handed down and the disgruntled fans can only boo the lousy decisions as they watch their heroes leave the ring on the short end of some very horrific judging. I know it’s not the judge’s job to make everyone happy, but geez, do they really need to go so far out of their way to make that disdain happen?

“Pretty Boys” Leftovers?

The last thing I want to hear from Floyd Mayweather Jr. this week is that Manny Pacquiao is feeding off of his leftovers. The last I checked Manny has not been accused of poking any security guards in the face nor has he been charged with smacking around anyones baby mama.

For more boxing news log on to www.Pound4Pound.com

This entry was posted on Monday, May 9th, 2011 at 9:59 am and is filed under Boxing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.