PACQUIAO vs MOSLEY: MY SCORECARD

by Earlie Doriman

Tonight at MGM Las Vegas, a showdown between two powerful boxers would certainly keep the world awake. Manny ‘Pacman’ Pacquiao against Sugar Shane Mosley, what is in my scorecard before the big fight. I am a Manny Pacquiao fanatic and I followed his boxing career since 1994. I was so disappointed when he was beaten by a Thai boxer before, but even then I have always been on his side regardless of who he fights. Having said that, I watched all his fights through live telecast or pay per view. When so constricted with my time, I always make sure I could see the replay. I don’t want to miss every single action that my idol displayed in his fights. I am never content to only hear, the good news or perhaps the bad news. I want to see it as it happened.
As always, Pacquiao trained extremely and his preparation is extensive and massive. Freddie Roach is well satisfied with Manny’s dedication and discipline. With four to five rounds of sparring everyday, he is at his top form to win this battle. In fairness to Mosley, he also prepared this biggest fight of his life and he is focused to knock out Pacquiao at the early rounds of the bout. At this point, no one is a clear winner although Mosley is considered the underdog, he can always stage an upset. Pacquaio on the other hand does not show overconfidence in spite of the favourable analysis from most sports critics.

As I mentioned in my previous post, tonight is a battle between speed and power. Pacquaio’s speed and accuracy coupled with a lightning left hook are his best weapons to win . But he needs to avoid being cornered at the ropes because Mosley’s power punches could shut him down if he allows him to throw more than he can take. Manny should also avoid gunning for an early knock out since Mosley is a durable boxer and he should rather focus looking for that chance at the later rounds. He has to prevent Mosley to land hard body shots and more particularly evading Mosley counter punches because that is one of his weaknesses. Trading punches with Mosley is not a good idea but Manny could use his better footwork and maintain decent distance in the middle of the ring to find a chance to throw his deadly left hook.
Mosley could possibly knock down Pacquaio in the early rounds if Manny starts aggressively and pursues trading punches with him. But if Manny gets smoothly into the 6th round, I am definite he could claim the fight until the last round if and only if Mosley stays standing. I predict Pacquaio to give Mosley a hard shot and knock down at the 8th or 9th round. But if not, the boxing will treat the audience a very good fight until the last round with Pacquaio winning by a ‘Unanimous’ decision.