Pacquiao vs. Mosley: Freddie Roach, Alex Ariza Predict KO but Pacquiao Says No

Early this month Freddie Roach predicted Manny Pacquiao will knock out Shane Mosley in six or seven rounds in their upcoming fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on May 7.

Likewise, Alex Ariza, Pacquiao's strength and conditioning coach said the Filipino boxing idol will knock out Shane Mosley in five or six rounds.

While two of his closest coaches predict a knock out, Manny Pacquiao says he won't go for it. He said he fights to win and going for a knock out is not in his fight plan. But as he would always say when the opportunity comes he'll surely go for it.

However, Pacquiao said he will give his best and assured fight fans it will be a good fight.

Pacquiao is not coming to get the knockout. He wants to work his strategy and if the knockout comes, he'll take it. However, Roach is encouraging Pacquiao to take Mosley out in order to make a statement.

"I never get in the ring to look for a knockout. In all of my fights, I go in the ring and to try to my best. I just come in there to win. If you look for the knockout, you never know what will happen. Shane Mosley is a great champion. I don't think this is an easy fight," Pacquiao said in a boxingscene.com article.

Roach said that unlike in their training for the Antonio Margarito fight, Pacquiao is very focused in his preparations for the Mosley bout, he told ABS-CBN News.

“We’re not taking this guy (Mosley) lightly,” he said. “We’re taking him seriously. We’re back here in L.A. He sparred yesterday, six rounds with Karim Mayfield and Shawn Porter, two good sparring partners. And Manny looked very good.

“I don’t see Shane having a chance,” he added.

Pacquiao has "let go" of some opportunities for a knockout in some of his major fights which did no go well with Freddie Roach.

A case in point was his recent fight with Antonio Margarito in which Pacquiao refused to go for the kill in the latter rounds after seeing his opponent badly bruised.

“He was asking (Margarito) if he was OK in the 11th and 12th rounds, they were nodding to each other,” he said.

“I urged him not to do that. He said it’s a sport, that he should try not to kill anyone. I agree with that,” said Roach. “[But] one punch can change a fight if a guy gets lucky, though. You shouldn't’t let those things happen," he said.

Meanwhile, Pacquiao's strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza has criticized Shane Mosley's high altitude training at the Big Bear mountain in California where Mosley has been holed up for over two months.

Ariza thinks Mosley's high altitude training may be disadvantageous to him. Ariza said “by the time Shane Mosley steps in the ring, his body will already have become accustomed to the lower altitude.”

“Shane’s body will automatically get used to the higher levels of oxygen that you breathe in the lower climates. There will be no benefit to what Shane tried to accomplish… All Shane Mosley did was sacrificed muscle, strength and speed for no reason,” the trainer said.

While both fighters have trained in high altitude areas as Manny Pacquiao also did in Baguio City, the difference lies on the fact that Pacquiao had more time to adjust in the low level environment after he settled down at the Wild Card Gym in California.

Ariza could be referring to the time gap for the body to adjust to certain environment as Mosley trained entirely at the Big Bear mountain for his upcoming fight with Pacquiao.