MANILA, Philippines – Just as Bob Arum announced the other day that the fight is on, the oddsmakers started punching the numbers for the May 7 fight between Manny Pacquiao and Shane Mosley.
To no surprise, the 32-year-old superstar, who flew to Boracay yesterday with his family, came out as the early, heavy favorite.
An online betting station, Sportbet.com, yesterday painted Pacquiao as a -750 favorite, meaning you need to place $750 on him just to win a hundred bucks.
Mosley, the 39-year-old fighter from Pomona, California, stood at +450, meaning every $100 on him wins $450.
Unless he has a time machine, Mosley won’t be able to pull the odds to his favor. It could even get taller in the days leading to the fight.
Arum’s announcement of the Pacquiao-Mosley fight, set at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, should also close the book on those for a Pacquiao fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Yesterday, the odds for the superfight between the two pound-for-pound champions were still on.
Mayweather, playing hide-and-seek the past couple of months, was at -145 and Pacquiao at +115 if the fight, twice close to happening, were held today.
But it’s not going to happen. Instead, the world will see Pacquiao vs Mosley.
Pacquiao arrived in Boracay on a private plane from General Santos City. They will spend Christmas at the high-end West Cove Resort owned by his bosom buddy Cris Aquino.
Pacquiao will go scuba-diving, as he had brought his diving instructor along. He and his family will fly back to Manila on Dec. 27, and the following day will leave for another vacation in Japan and Australia until Jan. 8.
Even blindfolded, the oddsmakers can point to Pacquiao as the heavy favorite.
For one, the fighting congressman from Sarangani is the reigning pound-for-pound champion, and is being hailed as the greatest of his era, if not of all time.
He has won his last 13 fights, most of them against taller, bigger, heavier and stronger opponents. His 12-round destruction of Antonio Margarito gave him his eighth world title in as many divisions.
Pacquiao will fight Mosley at 147 lb, and that should be a problem for Mosley because it’s the best fighting weight for the heavy-handed boxer who began his pro career at 106 lb in 1995.
Over his last five fights, Pacquiao crushed Oscar dela Hoya, Ricky Hatton, Miguel Cotto, Joshua Clottey and Margarito, and averaged 1.02 million in pay-per-view sales.
Mosley, on the other hand, will turn 40 in September, old enough he could get tired blowing the candles on his birthday cake.
He has two wins, two losses and a draw in his last five fights, the losses including one against Mayweather last May, and a bad draw against Sergio Mora last September.
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