Manny Pacquiao continued his dominance over the boxing world Saturday night, easily outpointing “Sugar” Shane Mosley and retaining his WBO welterweight championship in a unanimous decision victory. Pacquiao won on scores of 119-108, 120-108, and 120-107, as Mosley retreated and simply couldn’t generate anything offensively. SBNation New York scored the bout 120-108.
Pacquiao floored Mosley in the 3rd round with a two-punch combo that finished with a straight left to the chin. It was just the third time in his career that Mosley went to the canvas. Mosley admitted in his post-fight interview that the knockdown was when he truly felt Pacquiao’s power, and he fought the rest of the night as though he had no interest in feeling it again. Mosley had opportunities to counter punch throughout, but never seriously tried to engage.
The middle rounds were met with some boos from the sold out crowd at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, and those jeers were no question guided at Mosley. Pacquiao did his best to attack and make it an exciting fight, but Mosley looked happy to dodge and retreat. The only way Mosley could have had a chance going into the night was to counter, and use Pacquiao’s aggressiveness against him. But you can’t make an aggressive fighter pay if you don’t punch, and Mosley simply didn’t punch nearly enough. A staggering statistic from CompuBox stated that through the 12 rounds, Mosley fired off just five combinations.
Interestingly enough, this wasn’t Pacquiao’s finest night. He was a bit sloppy in his offense, and was attacking straight forward, which is unusual for him. Pacquiao is known for his excellent lateral movement, and we didn’t see much of that tonight. Mosley was actually credited with a knockdown in the 10th round on a horrendous call. After Mosley misfired on a three punch combo, the two fighters became entangled and Mosley shoved Pacquiao to the ground, and it was credited as a knockdown. Maybe referee Kenny Bayless and the outside official felt bad for Shane.
After the fake knockdown, Pacquiao was visibly upset, and true to the champion that he is, fought the remainder of the fight going for the knockout. Manny always tries to put on a good show, and he did his best to please the crowd over the final two and a half rounds. While he didn’t score the knockout, Pacquiao came to fight, and even on a night where he wasn’t his best, simply dominated another bigger man.
The careers of these two men couldn’t be going in two more different directions. Pacquiao can continue fighting the best fighters in whatever weight class he chooses, and will continue to make insane money doing so. Everyone wants to see Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. finally get in the ring, but it’s unlikely to happen next. With Mayweather staring at a slew of legal troubles, and the issues that foiled the first two attempts at making the fight still around, the chances of it happening soon are slim. It’s more likely that Pacquiao rekindles his rivalry with Juan Manuel Marquez, who Pacquiao has beaten once and drawn against once in their previous two fights. Pacquiao would rightly be the heavy favorite if they hooked up for a third time, but it would be an intriguing fight as Marquez is the last fighter to truly give Pacquiao any trouble.
Mosley on the other hand, seriously needs to consider retirement. What else is there for him to do that this point in his career? At age 39, and already a three-division world champion, it makes no sense for Mosley to keep fighting. There isn’t a fight out there for him that could improve his legacy. He’s had a great career, and in his past three performances has looked frankly pretty poor. It’s time for him to hang ’em up.
Going out losing to Manny Pacquiao is no shame. Pacquiao is dominating boxing right now in a pretty special way, mowing down every challenger that’s put in front of him. No spring chicken himself at age 32 and with 58 professional fights to his name, Pacquiao may not be fighting for that much longer. He probably has a handful of fights left.
So if you’re not already on the bandwagon, hop on and enjoy the ride while it lasts.