Mosley Chases Pacquiao But Losing Championship Class

by Ricardo Lois

If Manny Pacquiao sold lottery tickets to fighters for the opportunity to face off with the Filipino great, Shane Mosley would be first in line and buy or steal as many as he could.

Since his dismantling of Antonio Margarito, Mosley has been in the public eye and calling out Pacquiao at each and every opportunity.  From small-time media outlets to ESPN, Mosley has been steady in his calling out of Pacquiao.

Before Manny Manila Iced Ricky, before Floyd came up with a set of bad ribs, and way before Miguel Cotto slid past Joshua Clottey, Shane has being saying it lout and clear, "I want to fight Manny Pacquiao."

Shane will go down in weight, he'll give the Filipino a favorable purse bid, he'll fight with one hand tied behind his back...anything to fight Manny.

Signs of desperation started to show when Mayweather's publicity firm twisted a report from the Philippines stating Manny was interested in a fight with Mosley into a press release making it seem as if negotiations between the pair were in their final stages.

Through it all many pundits, including myself, have been saying Shane is a class guy - in and out of the ring - but his constant campaigning, or begging for a Manny Pacquiao fight is starting to erode his persona.

The death blow might have come today by the keyboard of L.A. Times' boxing writer Lance Pugmire.

First Pugmaire quotes Mosley on his thoughts regarding negotiations for a bout between Miguel Cotto and Pacquiao.

"Cotto doesn't deserve that chance now, but Arum only has one more fight [in his promotional contract] with Cotto, and he needs to put him in a big fight to keep him. So he's using Pacquiao for that -- to throw Cotto a bone," said Mosley.

First of all, Cotto deserves more than a chance against Pacquiao.  Though Cotto went through hell in a plaster hand basket during a knock-out loss to Antonio Margarito last year, the Puerto Rican has not taken very many easy fights in the last two years.  Cotto has fought Zab Judah, Antonio Margarito, Alfonso Gomez, Michael Jennings, Joshua Clottey, and Mosley himself - beating the fighting of Pasadena in the narrowest of margins.

So while Mosley deserves a crack after beating Margarito, Cotto deserves a shot as well for fighting a tough and rough customers like Joshua Clottey and Antonio Margarito, when nobody else would.

Once know for giving tough fighters, with little upside a shot  only to suffer defeats(see Vernon Forrest and Winky Wright), Mosley now openly dodges true fighters with skills but little popular shine.

"I'm not going to do that with Clottey, [World Boxing Council welterweight champ Andre] Berto ... or Paul Williams. I've done that stuff before [in losses] with Vernon Forrest and Winky Wright, taking the fights that weren't mega-fights but people said would build up the sport of boxing. I'm done with that," said Shane.

A said state of affairs when a man who has made millions from the sport, but is not a big box office draw, is blinded by the chase of one man...at the expense of a solid legacy and the status of being a man who would fight, anyone.

And in relation to Mr. Mosley's comments regarding Bob Arum and his "throwing" Cotto a fight to keep him under the Top Rank banner, that is what a good promoter does.  If Mr. Richard Schaefer, the mover and shaker at Golden Boy Promotions, truly cared for you and valued you Shane, he would be chasing Arum and Pacquiao, not you.

Hopefully Mosley's blind chase of Pacquiao does not destroy his reputation of being a throw-back fighter who fought all-comers.

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