Manny Pacquiao, Shane Mosley Announce May Fight In Las Vegas

It’s not the fight anyone was clamoring for, but it’s the fight everyone was expecting. Manny Pacquiao, fresh off a dominating win over Antonio Margarito, will face Shane Mosley at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on May 7. A mega-fight between Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. will, once again, be pushed to the back burner as negotiations never got out of the gate this time. Instead, Pacquiao will defend his welterweight belt against Mosley, an aging, 39-year-old legend.

According to Top Rank promoter Bob Arum, Mayweather Jr. was the first option, but initial feelers went without response, leaving the Pacquiao camp to look for other, lesser options. Mosley squared-off against Mayweather in March, but lost decisively. Still, Mosley believes he still has it and isn’t afraid of the quicker Pacquiao.

“I hurt Floyd in our fight, but he’s a great fighter and has great defense,” Mosley said. “What can I do about Mora? Do you really think that was a draw? Come on. I won that fight. He ran from me all night. But Pacquiao? Come on, man. I’m a bigger guy than him and he gets hit. And you saw how I hurt Floyd. 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.”

Good luck with that. For now, Pacquiao will continue to eat up whomever is put in front of him as the public anxiously awaits a showdown between himself and Mayweather. With record buys for such a mega-fight forecast, it seems like only a matter of time before it happens. Then again, seeing how previous negotiations have played out, the fight the public wants may go down as what could have been.

Pacquiao and Mosley face-off on May 7 at the MGM Grand’s Garden Arena in Las Vegas.