By Ted Sares:
Mosley
Sugar Shane Mosley is 39 approaching 40, has a fine record of 46-6-1 and has fought 376 hard rounds. In boxing, that’s long in the tooth. But that’s not the entire story. Ring age-wise, Shane is a lot older. The fact is, his greatest achievement; namely, fighting the very best opposition out there, is also his Achilles Heel. Going up against the likes of Fernando Vargas (twice), Winky Wright (twice), Oscar De La Hoya (twice) and Vernon Forrest (twice) is not a great formula for ring longevity. Oh yes, you can include Phil Holiday, Wilfredo Rivera, Antonio Diaz, David Estrada, Jose Louis Cruz, and Sergio Mora into the mix. To top it off, there also was Floyd Mayweather, Jr., Antonio Margarito, Ricardo Mayorga. Miguel Cotto, and Luis Collazo.
Pacquiao
Manny Pacquiao is 32 with a record of 52-3-2 and has fought 329 rounds and has not had a tough fight since early 2008 when he beat Juan Manuel Marquez by SD. Manny has been the beneficiary of shrewd match making. In fact, his last loss tracks all the way back to early 2005 when he lost to Erik Morales (who he later stopped twice). Since then he has gone 13-0. In the ring, Manny is exuberant and seems happy. That’s not a sign of being ring worn.
Ring-Age and Momentum
Now I could write about respective styles, chins, ring IQ’s, corners, dimensions, level of opposition, and intangibles, but for me, this one boils down to ring-age and momentum and Pac Man has the distinct edge. In 2009, Manny stopped Ricky Hatton and Cotto in brutal fashion. In 2010, he dominated both Joshua Clottey and Margarito. No one stops Clotty (how do you crack a turtle’s shell?) and what he did against “The Tijuana Tornado” arguably was worse than a stoppage, though Manny did take some punishing shots to the body in rounds 9 and 10.
Sugar Shane’s last two fights were nothing to get excited about. His draw with Mora and his abysmal performance against Mayweather raised serious questions as to whether he has come to the end of his glorious career. By the way, after his draw with Mosley, Sergio Mora lost a SD to Brian Vera and you can draw your own conclusions about that. While Mosley sent Mayorga to Bullring Dreamland in the very last second of their fight, he needed to come on strong to win. Yes, he destroyed Margarito, but my analysis of that destruction factors in the point that Margarito and his corner may have been totally discombobulated by the unsavory events that had happened in the dressing room and made them ripe for the picking—not taking away, of course, from Shane’s brilliant assault.
In the end, both chronological age and ring-age favor Manny and so does momentum. Shane has been in too many wars and the fact he has never been stopped and rarely decked is astounding. This may not be the case for him on Saturday.
Father Time is always a very formidable opponent.