The biggest professional boxing match of the year so far is scheduled for May 7, a fight between former lightweight, welterweight and middleweight champion Shane Mosley and current No. 1 rated boxer Manny Pacquiao.
The boxers will square off at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas, Nev. It will air on Pay-Per-View, followed by a re-airing on Showtime on May 14.
According to reports, Pacquiao, 32, is favored to win the fight with against 39-year-old Mosley. Yet Mosley feels he will surprise naysayers and end Pacquiao’s five-year run of domination in the boxing world. Mosley’s former promoter, Cedric Kushner, feels the same way.
“Absolutely, Shane has a chance to win,” Kushner told Examiner.com. “I don’t wish to speak in riddles so I’ll make it plain. I am picking Shane to win this fight over Pacman. He’s been one of the great fighters of his generation and he retains his power. I also think that this might be the time, might be the fight where as great as Manny is and has been, he’s going to be impacted negatively from fighting a bigger man.”
Mosley enjoys a clear size advantage over Pacquiao, but the Filipino boxing icon is no stranger to fighting bigger boxers. Pacquiao has made a living fighting boxers that are larger than him, but none of his opponents have been able to match his speed and compete in the ring. Mosley, however, not only has size but also possesses speed that Pacquiao isn’t used to facing.
“Manny is going to come forward and I will hit him on the chin at some point,” Mosley told ESPN, recalling how he used his speed to hurt Floyd Mayweather Jr. with a hook during their fight last year. “His defense is not like Floyd’s. Manny will come at me, and I will knock him out.”
Pacquiao acknowledged the speed and skill shown by Mosley in hurting Mayweather, but also said Mosley didn’t finish the job against a hurt Mayweather when he fought him, and lost, in 2010. Pacquiao claimed he would have knocked Mayweather out.
“I saw , I did,” Manny said, according to bloodyelbow.com. “If I can hit Mayweather like that, I will finish him off. I would continue the attack in a way that Mosley did not. I attack until Mayweather is gone.”
Perhaps Pacquiao will show Mosley what he’s talking about when fight night arrives May 7.