Pacquiao vs. Mosley: Shane Mosley Didn't Come Ready to Fight

By Troy Sparks

In what was supposed to be the fight of the year, it was one-sided and disappointing.  The two undercard fights had more action than the Shane Mosley vs. Manny Pacquiao fight.

Anticipation built up in both camps and from boxing fans because we wanted to see if Mosley had the guts to stand up to the pound-for-pound champ.

I can understand why Pacquiao wanted to feel Mosley out.  In Mosley's mind, it was his fight to win, but he didn't come out smoking.

During the second round, the crowd at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas chanted "Manny."  The Pac Man was trying to pick his spots carefully to catch Mosley off balance and off guard.

Pacquiao attacked in the third round with a right-left combo that dropped Mosley to the canvas with 1 minute 16 seconds left in the round.  I was thinking to myself, "It's over."  If Pacquiao kept working Mosley over, it would've been a knockout for him.

Both fighters kept touching gloves throughout the fight, which I thought was being too friendly.  One guy should be ready to destroy the other guy in the ring.

Some of the clutching and holding by Mosley bought a little time.  Clearly, despite saying that he trained as hard as he ever did, he was tired.  Mosley's trainer, Nazir Richardson, tried to inject some psychology into Mosley by saying he wasn't tired.

When Mosley realized that he was losing the fight, boxing commentator Antonio Tarver said he should take some risks.  Mosley later said that taking a risk would've set himself up to get knocked out.

The official knockdown of Pacquiao that Mosley registered was actually a shove.  I didn't see any punches that caused the Pac Man to fall down.  That only made Pacquiao a little mad.  He was trying to finish off Mosley.

In the 11th round, the chants of "knock him out" was heard.  Even if Pacquiao played it safe towards the end of the fight, he had enough points to win.  You could see Mosley running away from Pacquiao like Floyd Mayweather Jr. is.

It was another day at the office for Pacquiao.  His face was clean with no bruises, although Mosley held an ice pack to his head.  If he doesn't know what his future in boxing holds, the message is clear:  Quit now.

With the WBO World Welterweight Championship belt in Pacquiao's possession, there are no more real opponents to step up except one. 

I have a suggestion for Pacquiao:  Since the fight was in Vegas, and Mayweather lives in Vegas, why not go to his house, knock on his door and call him out. 

Forget about the drug testing jive.  Just call Mayweather out and challenge him to a street fight. 

Mayweather, however, will stay as far away as he can from Pacquiao after he destroyed the last two guys in convincing fashion.

The boxing community don't want to hear any excuses from Mayweather.  If he's man enough, he will step up.  The pay-per-view numbers will go through the roof.  But I think that Mayweather is a coward.