Mosley vs. Pacquiao Signed for May 7

Top Rank CEO Bob Arum has confirmed that Manny Pacquiao will face Shane Mosley on May 7 at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand.

Just yesterday, Arum had verified that an approved Pacquiao contract had been sent over for review to Mosley advisor and Rap-A-Lot CEO James Prince. The fight will be at welterweight for Pacquiao’s WBO title, which he lifted via 12th round TKO from Miguel Cotto in November 2009.

Most expected this fight following Mosley’s acrimonious recent departure from Golden Boy Promotions. With Mosley’s signing to Top Rank, May 7’s bout will be Pacquiao’s fourth straight in-house fight. The other two distant options for Pacquiao were lightweight champion and rival Juan Manuel Marquez, and welterweight titlist Andre Berto.

After a sensational knockout of Antonio Margarito in January 2009, Mosley was the consensus best welterweight in boxing. However, he was unable to secure a big fight with Pacquiao or Mayweather, and decided to remain on the shelf for the rest of that year. Earlier this year, he was soundly defeated by Floyd Mayweather, and followed up that performance with a listless draw against Sergio Mora.

Knowing he’s an immense underdog, Mosley asserted that Pacquiao has an aggressive style he can exploit.

“I’m a bigger guy than him and he gets hit. And you saw how I hurt Floyd,” Mosley told ESPN. “Manny is going to come forward and I will hit him on the chin at some point. His defense is not like Floyd’s. Manny will come at me, and I will knock him out.”

According to ESPN, Bob Arum will begin a promotional tour in February, with stops in New York, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, and San Francisco.

At press time, Manny Pacquiao could not be reached for comment.

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“You ain’t done enough of this I suppose. They always disappoint…”

– The Wire, Season Four

And there you have it. That above quote was in regard to politicians, which comes as highly ironic considering Pacquiao’s other job. This fight can’t be excused as nothing more than taking the lowest risk with the highest financial reward, otherwise known in the boxing world as “cherrypicking.” This is not something that’s started with Pacquiao. When you look at other superstar boxers throughout history, ranging from Jack Dempsey’s heavyweight reign to even Sugar Ray Leonard, you can see numerous cases of boxers becoming very selective with their matchups once they transcend the sport.

Long ago, I stopped ridiculing Mayweather’s opponent choices when he made it clear that he was simply in it for the highest financial gain. I can respect someone who is upfront about his or her intentions. As long as Pacquiao, Arum, and Roach concede a similar point about this matchup, and all future opponents like this, I’ll lay off. But if they continue deriding Mayweather for his actions, while doing exactly the same thing, they’ll be rightly called out on the hypocrisy.