Manny expressed his excitement and state of readiness with his incoming bout to “Sugar” Shane Mosley. The bout will be held at MGM Grand in Las Vegas on May 7, a much anticipated fight warmly welcomed by Pacman’s team.
He also frankly stated that it is going to be one tough fight for him so he allotted 8 weeks of training for it unlike his previous fights where he only had 3-5 weeks. But as of the present, he is enjoying his holiday being with his family at Boracay which would then followed by a tour to Japan and Australia.
“For me, I need 8 weeks training for this fight. This is going to be a difficult fight,” Pacquiao the World Boxing Council (WBC) super welterweight and World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight title holder said on Thursday. Clearly, Pacquiao’s team favour the said fight.Pacquiao’s fight promoter, Bob Arum from Top Rank promotions, has announced that the Manny will fight Mosley on May 7, 2011.
“We came to a meeting of the minds,” Arum told ESPN.com. “I believe it will be an exciting fight. Shane knows how to fight and how to deal with the speed. Manny is in for a hellacious fight. I really believe styles make fights.”
However, despite the favour of the team, the fight was met with much negative reactions by boxing critics. The fight is said to be matched not for the prowess of each fighter but rather for the call of money. A lot of critics claimed that Top Rank is merely squeezing out money while they still can from this fight knowing that Mosley’s fighting skills is ebbing and so is his popularity. He had lost his previous match with Mayweather last May and had a draw with Mora last September. Top Rank was accused of making money out of the most from Mosley whose allure is already starting to fade. Arum finds himself in the midst for most of this harsh criticism.
‚ÄúArum doesn’t care. He only wants to do what is best for himself, certainly not for boxing. He is going to put Mosley in the ring with Pacquiao solely because of name. It’s a move that will squeeze out the last gasps of Mosley’s once-outstanding career so Arum can generate another big payday while doing a disservice to real boxing fans who actually care about the matchups and not just a famous but faded name,‚Äù said ESPN.com‚Äôs Dan Rafael.
Yahoo! Sport’s Kevin Iole’s reaction was even more blunt.
“You know it’s garbage. I know it’s garbage. Heck, even Bob Arum, the guy who is putting the money up to stage the Manny Pacquiao-Shane Mosley fight, which will take place May 7 in Las Vegas, knows it’s garbage,” he said.
Flipino boxing critics rushed to the side of Arum to defend the Manny vs Mosley tandem. Ed Dela Vega stated that in reality, boxing match is all about money. Honor and anything else comes in second.
“Boxing after all is about money. Everything else is secondary. Otherwise, they would not call it a ‘prize fight’,” said Dela Vega.
