Mosley was a defensive fighter throughout the entire match. He looked lost, lethargic and unwilling to engage in a fight. Pacquiao enjoys a victory via unanimous decision.
Let the Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather rumors resume once again.
Round 11: “Knock Him Out! Knock Him Out! Knock Him Out!” The crowd really pulling for Pacquiao to end this one-sided, and somewhat boring fight.
Pacquiao continued to fire shots at Mosley throughout the round, with Mosley rarely responding with any hint of offensive ability.
Mosley said prior to the right that he was in great shape. I can’t argue with the guy’s physique, but he obviously didn’t show up to fight tonight. The 39-year-old has been retreating, retreating and retreating some more.
If this crowd wasn’t 95 percent pro-Pacquiao before the fight, they certainly are now. The only question is whether Pacman can knock him out at the end of this “fight.”
Round 10: Interesting development in Round 10. Mosley was a little bit more aggressive, and Pacquiao hit the mat. Replays showed that it clearly was not a knockdown, although Mosley was credited with one.
While it was obvious Mosley shoved Pacquiao done, it is still being considered an official knockdown, which is only the fifth that Pacquiao has suffered in his career.
From then on, Pacquiao looked like a frustrated and angry fighter, literally running after Mosley. It really seemed like he wanted to prove that it wasn’t a knockdown and that he is, by far, the superior fighter — especially on this given night.
Round 9: Pacquiao really looked to up the tempo in the ninth round, connecting on a few solid lefts.
With about a minute left in the round, he connected on a left to the body, followed by a left to the head.
Shortly thereafter, Pacquiao delivered a couple straight left hands directly to the jaw of Mosley. He seems to really be setting up those lefts up nicely with his right hand, though. Mosley’s unable to see it coming and react before getting tagged though.
Round 8: The frustration of the crowd really seems to be coming out. After each round, boos are raining down due to a lack of fighting on the part of Mosley.
Pacquiao’s last three rights have gone 12 rounds, and this one looks like it could be heading down that road as well. Pacquiao delivered a few solid blows to the ribs of Mosley, but it was really the only offense that could be generated due to Mosley’s defensiveness.
Mosley did deliver a decent right, but it was didn’t have much of an impact.
Round 7: For the third time in this fight, Pacquiao and Mosley bang heads. Fortunately, there have been no resulting cuts or any ill effects from the blows.
Pacquiao continues to throw combinations that have Mosley off-balance. Mosley’s gloves are extremely high as he fends off right-left combo after right-left combo.
In all honesty, it’s been a pretty uneventful right thus far — with the exception of Mosley getting knocked down — and the fans are letting Mosley know.
Round 6: All of the judges seem to be heavily favoring Pacquiao thus far, and it’s easy to see why.
Pacquiao has thrown a lot more punches than Mosley, and just looks a lot faster than Mosley, who continues to back-track. Pacman, meanwhile, keeps moving forward. It looks like he truly wants to be the first guy to knock out Mosley.
Round 5: Mosley again looked tentative in Round 5, as it continues to look like he’s waiting for Pacquiao to make a mistake. The only problem is that that’s something Pacquiao doesn’t do very often.
The two banged heads in Round 5, just as they had done earlier in the fight. Mosley slipped in a left hand on Pacquiao as he lunged at him with a left hook, but Pacman is still the aggressor thus far.
Mosley needs to throw more punches and take more chances in order to have a chance in this fight. I understand he wants to be patient, but Pacquiao is in such great shape, so I don’t see him wearing down at all throughout this fight.
Fun fact: Pacquiao’s yellow gloves signify unity.
Round 4: Pacman used combo after combo in the fourth round, clearly demonstrating more energy and confidence than his opponent.
Midway through the round, Mosley slipped in the middle of the ring after a right jab, left hook combo from Pacman. After getting back to his feet, Mosley delivered a three-punch combo of his own, although they seemed to have very little impact on Pacquiao.
Round 3: Pacquiao knocked down Mosley with a textbook combination, much to the delight of mostly pro-Manny crowd. He set it up with a right hand and finished it with a straight left.
This marks only the third time in Mosley’s career that he’s been knocked down and, as expected, Pacquiao looked like he was in control.
The knockdown will not only help Pacquiao on the scorecards, but Mosley appeared to be somewhat injured from the blow.
Round 2: Pacquiao and Mosley banged heads in the second round. Neither fighter appeared hurt too much, though, and they both pressed on.
Mosley caught Pacquiao with a good right early, but Manny dictated most of the round.
Round 1: A relatively uneventful first round. There was a lot of feeling out going on by both fighters. One thing that was clear, though, was that Mosley wants to try to use his three-inch height advantage by not letting Pacquiao get inside.
It will be interesting to see how the pace of this fight progresses as each fighter adapts to what the other guy is giving him.
Pacquiao seemed to be lunging a bit, so we’ll see if Mosley is able to use that to his advantage.
11:58 p.m.: Is there any song more synonymous with boxing than “Eye of the Tiger?” Short answer: Nope. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that long-time Survivor lead singer Jimi Jamison showed up for this one. He led Pacquiao to the ring.
Shortly after getting into the ring, the “Manny!” chants ensure. Boston fans should be familiar with that particular chant at least.
11:49 p.m.: Jamie Foxx just belted out “America The Beautiful” to the delight of the sold-out crowd, signaling that it’s time.
Minutes later, LL Cool J followed up with “Mama Said Knock You Out” for Shane Mosley’s ring entrance.
Mosley (46-6-1, 39 KO), another boxer nicknamed “Sugar,” has never been knocked out in his career. But all good things must come to an end, and many boxing experts expect Pacquiao, the heavy favorite, to be the one to finally do it. Pacman is 52-3-2 in professional career with 38 KOs.
Mosley is 15-2 with 12 KOs when it comes to title bouts.
11:41 p.m.: Also worth noting: Arce promised before his match with Vazquez that he would win via knockout. Boxing’s often a sport of bold proclamations, and that was certainly seen as one heading into the fight.
11:32 p.m.: We could look back at the end of the night and consider the third and final undercard fight as the evening’s best. Jorge Arce defeated Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. to win the WBO super bantamweight title.
It was a back-and-forth slugfest between two guys who refused to back down. There were times in the match where each guy looked as if he was capturing control. But it went into the 12th and final round before Arce came out on top.
Arce took command in the 12th round, backing Vazquez up against the ropes and hammering him with multiple left-right combos. But Vazquez still battled, trying to gain position, until his father threw in the towel and stopped the fight, giving Arce the victory via TKO.
Had the fight gone to the judges’ scorecards, it’s difficult to determine who would have come out on top. Many of the judges on press row had the fight dead even at 104-104 through 11 rounds. Nevertheless, Arce battled despite a major cut near his left eye, and pulled off what is regarded as a major upset.
Will will see another upset tonight?
10:31 p.m.: Kelly Pavlik is a former WBC and WBO middleweight champion, so the prospect of squaring off with him in the ring had to be appetizing for Alfonso Lopez, who is still looking to make a name for himself in the sport.
The two fought an extremely close fight for all 10 rounds before it went to the judges’ scorecards. Pavlik won by majority decision, improving his record to 37-2 in his career. The loss is the first for Lopez, who falls to 21-1.
About midway through the fight, it looked as though Pavlik was going to use his experience to his advantage and take control of the fight. But despite a couple of big blows, Lopez delivered a few combinations himself and it remained a close fight throughout. Ultimately, though, the more experienced fighter was able to pick up the win.
9:48 p.m.: In the first undercard fight of the night, Mike Alvarado remained undefeated with a three-round victory over “Sugar” Ray Narh.
The fight was fairly even throughout the first couple of rounds, with Narh trying to keep his distance and use his height. Alvarado, who’s now 30-0, was definitely the aggressor in the third round, though, and it forced Narh’s corner to quit the fight shortly after the round’s conclusion.
Narh entered the fight at 25-1, so it’s definitely an impressive win for the up-and-coming Alvarado, who could be looking at a title shot in the near future.
What’s also amazing is the amount of boxers that continue to utilize the nickname, “Sugar.” At what point do we reach a maximum, and force boxers to start searching for alternatives?
6:55 p.m.: Manny Pacquiao has reportedly been involved in a minor car accident on his way to the MGM Grand Casino from the nearby Mandalay Bay Casino just hours before the fight.
A security car reportedly tapped the back bumper of the caravan that Pacquiao was riding in. Fortunately, no one was hurt, no police report was filed and the fight will go on.
8 a.m.: Manny Pacquiao is widely considered the best pound-for-pounder fighter that boxing has to offer. He enters Saturday’s fight with Shane Mosley as an 8-to-1 favorite, but he’ll have to remain focused and continue to use both hands throughout the match in order to avoid being upset by the 39-year-old.
Fans will continue to dream of a Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather showdown, but Mosley is no slouch and could prove to be a worthy opponent for Pacquiao if he is able to recapture some of his youth on Saturday night.
Sure, Mosley was heavily outmatched by Mayweather last May, and followed up the performance by earning a disappointing draw against Sergio Mora in September. But Mosley has won three world titles in three different weight divisions over the course of his career, and he will undoubtedly be a determined fighter with Pacquiao’s welterweight title on the line at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Pacquiao weighed in at 145 pounds for Saturday’s match, while Mosley is fighting at 147 pounds.
There is a lot of talk about Pacquiao’s next fight, which could be in November, but the real focus should be on Saturday’s showdown in order for him to avoid a disasterous upset.
