MANILA, Philippines – Eight-division boxing champion Manny Pacquiao believes he will need a longer training period to prepare against former world welterweight champion “Sugar’ Shane Mosley.
“For me, I need 8 weeks training for this fight,” the Filipino boxer said on Thursday.
Pacquiao is taking advantage of his free time by bringing his family to Boracay and Australia during the Christmas break.
The Filipino champion said it will be all business when he returns after his vacation.
“This is going to be a difficult fight,” said Pacquiao, the World Boxing Council (WBC) super welterweight and World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight title holder.
Pacquiao’s fight promoter, Bob Arum, has announced that the Filipino will fight Mosley on May 7, 2011.
"We came to a meeting of the minds," Arum told ESPN.com. "I believe it will be an exciting fight. Shane knows how to fight and how to deal with the speed. Manny is in for a hellacious fight. I really believe styles make fights."
Negative reactions
The announcement has received mixed reactions, mostly negative, from boxing insiders.
Analysts critical of the Pacquiao-Mosley fight said Mosley is clearly at the twilight of his career based on his last 2 fights.
Although Mosley stopped Antonio Margarito in 2009, he lost his fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. in a lopsided decision last May. He was also held to a draw by Sergio Mora last September.
“Arum doesn't care. He only wants to do what is best for himself, certainly not for boxing. He is going to put Mosley in the ring with Pacquiao soley because of name. It's a move that will squeeze out the last gasps of Mosley's once-outstanding career so Arum can generate another big payday while doing a disservice to real boxing fans who actually care about the matchups and not just a famous but faded name,” said ESPN.com’s Dan Rafael.
Yahoo! Sport’s Kevin Iole’s reaction was even more blunt.
“You know it’s garbage. I know it’s garbage. Heck, even Bob Arum, the guy who is putting the money up to stage the Manny Pacquiao-Shane Mosley fight, which will take place May 7 in Las Vegas, knows it’s garbage,” he said.
All about the money
Meanwhile Philboxing.com columnist, Ed dela Vega, defended the move to pit Pacquiao versus Mosley.
He said that in reality, every boxing match is about money.
“Boxing after all is about money. Everything else is secondary. Otherwise, they would not call it a ‘prize fight’,” said Dela Vega.
He added that Mosley offered Pacquiao something that another candidate, Juan Manuel Marquez, could not give.
“He [Mosley] settled for a reported ‘mere $5M guarantee’ plus some PPV [pay-per-view] upside that still would make him earn something like a cool 8 million if the PPV [pay per view] hits more than an agreed number,” said Dela Vega.
“What Mosley will get as a PPV upside is a hell a lot less than the $5 for every PPV sales over 500,000 buys that Marquez demanded,” he added.
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