by Martin ‘The Brain’ Potter of the Boxing Clever podcast: Over the next couple of months two of the fight games biggest names and flag-bearers for the sport take to the ring; pound for pound king Manny ‘Pac Man’ Pacquiao and consensus world heavyweight number one Wladimir Klitschko. Yet far from being excited about seeing these two undoubtedly top quality fighters who are both at the peak of their powers, I am decidedly underwhelmed by the lukewarm and distinctively unpalatable fare they have decided to serve up to fight hungry fans.
Let me start with the Pacquiao–Mosley ‘fight’. There will be many casual fans (and some gullible ones) who might look at this match up and be fooled into thinking it is a competitive fight. It isn’t. Mosley hasn’t been a force at world level for at least two years, with the win against Margarito being a mirage in a desert of decline. Prior to Margarito, Mosley had lost to Cotto and looked bad beating Ricardo Mayorga. Post Margarito, Mosley got dominated by Floyd Mayweather and was involved in a stinker against Sergio Mora. Why do people suddenly think he will have a chance against the world’s most dangerous fighter?
Pacquiao, Mosley and the promoters of this fight are selling Mosley on his past achievements. I ain’t buying. The Mosley of a decade ago was a great fighter and that version of ‘sugar’ would have given the current ‘pac man’ all sorts of problems with his size, speed, power and all round ability. Unfortunately for Shane (and anyone who buys this fight) he is not as good as he used to be. He is not as quick, is easier to hit and can’t quite ‘pull the trigger’ anymore. A year ago Floyd Mayweather, round two aside, toyed with Mosley and if he put his foot on the gas could have stopped him. Shane hasn’t suddenly got better a year later and Pacquiao only knows how to fight one way; with his pedal to the mettle. Mosley’s chin and stamina, when he was at the top of his game, were great assets but I fear that in this fight those qualities could see him take a protracted beating.
If I don’t agree with Pacquiao against Mosley then who do I think Manny should be fighting? Ignoring Floyd (bored with that), I would like to see him in with someone like Andre Berto, a young, hungry and unbeaten world champion. Mr Arum would have us believe that Berto is not a big enough name and therefore wouldn’t bring in the big bucks, yet prior to the Pacquiao fight, Margarito couldn’t draw flies (and some would say that was despite being rotten).
I get that Manny Pacquiao has fought bigger men for the past couple of years and don’t expect him to fight guys like Cotto or Mayweather in every bout, but if he is going to fight faded ‘names’ just to make cash, then don’t try to kid loyal boxing fans into paying pay-per- view prices for it. Take a high profile pay-per-view fight against a good fighter, then take a low profile fight in order to ‘rest’ and make money and put it on free view – that is fair. Just don’t pretend that a one sided bout is pay-per-view worthy.
If Pacquiao–Mosley is a relatively minor mismatch then Klitschko-Chisora is a major one in comparison. Here we have a vastly experienced 58 fight professional world champion, who has extensive amateur pedigree and has been fighting world title bouts for the best part of ten years, against a 14 fight novice who in his last bout struggled to beat Sam Sexton in a domestic dust up. Why is this fight being allowed to happen?!
I don’t blame either Chisora or his promoter Frank Warren for accepting this fight as it is a once in a lifetime shot that I can’t see ‘del boy’ getting again (if he did then clearly it wouldn’t be a once in a lifetime shot….) Yet deep down, surely both Chisora and Warren know it is a fight that he can’t win. Wladimir will fight in his trademark style and will jab his limited opponent into oblivion, whilst sending over the odd pulverising right hand. If Chisora does get close then expect the octopus like arms of Wlad to tie him up until the referee in Germany is satisfied that the Brit can’t do any damage and pulls them apart again. Easy money for the junior Kiltschko brother; a brutal introduction into world class boxing for del boy. It won’t be ‘luvvly jubbly’ for the world’s boxing fans.
To put things into perspective, I don’t expect to see Donaire-Montiel type super fights in every bout (even though I would love to), or even Alexander-Bradley type unification bouts (especially if they are like the Alexander-Bradley unification bout!) However is it really too much to ask that our premier world champions take part in reasonably competitive fights, especially when they expect us to pay top dollar to watch them?
Boxing fans who are starved of top level bouts are an easy target for cash hungry promoters and television companies and unfortunately fighters get sucked into the money trap. Fight fans should reject these mismatches and maybe, just maybe, the likes of Pacquiao and Mayweather or Haye and Klitschko will one day be forced to fight each other. Or maybe not.
For more boxing opinion, inane babble and poor attempts at humour from ‘The Brain’ listen to the 5 star rated Boxing Clever Podcast, available on iTunes or at www.boxingcleverpodcast.libsyn.com or you can email me at boxingcleverpodcast@gmail.com.