Manny Pacquiao will celebrate his 32nd birthday this Friday (December 17) in the Philippines by announcing his next opponent.
Top Rank CEO Bob Arum has confirmed that Pacquiao will fight on May 7 instead of the originally proposed April 16 date. His opponent choices still are Andre Berto, Juan Manuel Marquez, and Shane Mosley, who is the frontrunner having broke with Golden Boy Promotions to join Arum’s stable. Arum is now in the Philippines with Pacquiao to finalize the decision
“We had a meeting [Monday] night after dinner in my suite and went over everything and he absorbed it all, and we will talk further on Friday when I get to [Pacquiao’s hometown] General Santos City and see him again,” Arum told ESPN’s Dan Rafael. “Friday is his birthday and he’s going to tell me Friday. We went over all the details and talked about it for about an hour.”
On moving the fight date one month, Arum explained that pay-per-view providers pressed for a May superfight due to pro wrestling and UFC holding significant cards in April.
“The pay-per-view industry was very, very adamant about wanting Manny to go in May because they felt going in April there were too many pay-per-view events with WrestleMania and a UFC,” Arum continued. “While they may not be directly competitive for viewers, they are when it comes to the ad space on cable systems and the [satellite] dishes.”
At press time, the leading venue for Pacquiao’s next fight is the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Pacquiao last fought there in November 2009, defeating Miguel Cotto via 12th round TKO.
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I don’t know who Arum and Pacquiao think they’re kidding. It’s a virtual lock that the announcement on Friday will be Shane Mosley as the next opponent. Shane wouldn’t have left Golden Boy if it wasn’t a sure thing.
The real fun will be how Arum can spin this as a credible fight. So far, the media is rightly coming down on this bout, and even more so then when Pacquiao faced Margarito. Not that it’ll make much difference. People claimed they would be boycotting Pacquiao-Margarito, and that fight still cleared over 1 million pay-per-view buys. And like Shane now, Margarito came into that fight following back to back abysmal performances.
Is Shane Mosley signing up for a frightful beating? I hope not, but I really cannot see any other outcome. At this stage, Mosley has not looked good with guys who give him angles and movement, as seen with Mayweather and Mora. Pacquiao not only has superb footwork, but speed, power, and aggression. To me, it’s a recipe for the first stoppage of Shane Mosley’s career.
In the last year and a half, I’ve covered three fights at the MGM Grand (Mayweather-Marquez, Pacquiao-Cotto, and Mayweather-Mosley). I’ll probably head out to Vegas again if this one lands there. I’m sure the buzz with my fellow boxing writers will be Shane’s safety.
As the consumer and fight fan, will you order Pacquiao-Mosley?
Beats, Boxing and Mayhem 