{"id":419025,"date":"2011-05-06T14:45:00","date_gmt":"2011-05-06T14:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/05\/06\/pacquiao-couldn%e2%80%99t-be-more-prepared-for-mosley-yahoo-sports\/"},"modified":"2011-05-06T14:45:00","modified_gmt":"2011-05-06T14:45:00","slug":"pacquiao-couldnt-be-more-prepared-for-mosley-yahoo-sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/06\/pacquiao-couldnt-be-more-prepared-for-mosley-yahoo-sports\/","title":{"rendered":"Pacquiao couldn\u2019t be more prepared for Mosley (Yahoo! Sports)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

LAS VEGAS \u2013 There was a time not that long ago that those in Manny Pacquiao\u2019s camp had legitimate reason to be worried before his major fights. He didn\u2019t have a right hand to speak of and he only fought moving in one direction. He was so aggressive on offense that he was deficient defensively. There wasn\u2019t a lot of nuance to his game.<\/p>\n

One by one, Pacquiao has erased those flaws and turned himself into the best fighting machine the sport has seen since \u201cSugar\u201d Ray Leonard more than a quarter of a century ago.<\/p>\n

Pacquiao is the best fighter in the world. By far. Pound-for-pound, he might be the hardest puncher in the game. It\u2019s hard to imagine anyone with faster hands. There is no finer conditioned athlete in boxing and perhaps not in all of sports.<\/p>\n

The scary thing for his competitors is, he\u2019s getting better. He added a right hand to his repertoire after watching film with trainer Freddie Roach of his 2005 loss to Erik Morales, in which he essentially fought one-handed and concluding that his critics were correct.<\/p>\n

\"*\"Order Pacquiao-Mosley fight<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

He only used to be comfortable fighting while moving in one direction and astute opponents, particularly Juan Manuel Marquez, were able to have success with him by taking advantage of that.<\/p>\n

None of that is an issue for him any more. Now, those in Pacquiao\u2019s inner circle only worry about far less troublesome issues, such as Pacquiao working too hard or not taking an opponent seriously enough.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s an overwhelming favorite to successfully defend his World Boxing Organization welterweight title and his position atop the sport\u2019s mythical pound-for-pound rankings when he meets Shane Mosley on Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in the main event of a pay-per-view card.<\/p>\n

A prime Mosley would have been a legitimate threat and cause for sleepless nights for Roach, promoter Bob Arum and the rest of Team Pacquiao. But the nearly 40-year-old version of Mosley that Pacquiao will face on Saturday hasn\u2019t won in two years and was given the high-paying slot opposite Pacquiao because he has a familiar face and can help push pay-per-view sales. That seems like a wise decision at this point, as all indicators are that the sales could hit a Pacquiao career record of 1.5 million and perhaps slightly more.<\/p>\n

Related: Pacquiao lookalike has Vegas doing a double take<\/a><\/strong> <\/p>\n

Roach, however, isn\u2019t dismissive of Mosley as a boxer and wanted to make sure Pacquiao understood that, regardless of what else may have happened, Mosley still carried plenty of power and thus would be a danger. But Roach has been with Pacquiao for 10 years and knew that most of the people who Pacquiao ran across in the Philippines were telling him that a bout with Mosley would be easy.<\/p>\n

So, when Roach began the lengthy journey from Los Angeles to Pacquiao\u2019s initial training base in Baguio, Philippines, he rehearsed what he\u2019d say when he finally saw his fighter face to face.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was really, really worried about (whether Pacquiao would take Mosley lightly) when I was flying to the Philippines,\u201d Roach said. \u201cI said, \u2018OK, I have a big obstacle in front of me. Everyone in the Philippines is telling Manny this would be an easy fight.\u2019 And so I knew I was going to have to have a talk with him. So, on the first day of training, I asked him, \u2018How was your run?\u2019 And he says, \u2018Hard.\u2019\u00a0\u201d<\/p>\n

That surprised Roach and he pressed to learn more. He assumed that Pacquiao had done his running on the flatlands in a nearby park.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe goes, \u2018No, I went to the mountains,\u2019\u00a0\u201d Roach said. \u201cUsually we start off on the flats and work our way up to the mountains. I said, \u2018Why?\u2019 And he says, \u2018Yeah, but Mosley is a tough fight and we need to work for this one.\u2019 That was the first day. And you know what? That attitude hasn\u2019t changed until now.\u201d<\/p>\n

As he\u2019s aged, Mosley has tended to fade late in fights, so it wouldn\u2019t be a surprise if he were to storm Pacquiao early to try to get him out.<\/p>\n

A sturdy chin is one of Pacquiao\u2019s better, if lesser noticed attributes. And Pacquiao is such a competitor that he fires back early and hard when under assault. That leads to another problem for Mosley because there\u2019s a risk of trying to get into a shootout with Pacquiao because he essentially has a more powerful weapon and a deeper cache of bullets.<\/p>\n

\u201cJoshua Clottey showed that the issue isn\u2019t whether you can hit Pacquiao,\u201d Mosley trainer Naazim Richardson said. \u201cThe issue is whether you can stop Pacquiao from hitting you all the time. And can you continuously do that? Because in the second half of the bout, this guy\u2019s energy is unbelievable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Yahoo! Sports interviewed Manny Pacquiao ahead of his Joshua Clottey bout last year. Here are exclusive images from that session.<\/p>\n

Photo credits: Laurie Bailey Photography for Yahoo! Sports<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Mosley tends to get wide with his shots, which will leave him open to Pacquiao\u2019s faster, straighter shots. A jab, an uppercut and a straight left hand will be very important punches for Pacquiao.<\/p>\n

So, until Mosley tightens up, Pacquiao figures to attack him from the middle.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told Manny that where I think we beat Shane is right down the middle,\u201d Roach said. \u201cHe has a big overhand right and a really wide left hook. If you pull away from that hook, you\u2019ll be in trouble, because you\u2019ll be on the end of it. You can\u2019t do that. You have to stay in the pocket and counter it. The counter will be very effective.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roach is encouraging Pacquiao to go for the knockout as a way to surpass Floyd Mayweather Jr., who won a wide 12-round decision over Mosley a year ago. Nearly everyone in boxing is pining for a Pacquiao-Mayweather fight, but Mayweather doesn\u2019t seem interested.<\/p>\n

As a result, Roach said the next best thing will be to outdo Mayweather and beat the guys he\u2019s beaten more decisively.<\/p>\n

But Pacquiao is a compassionate sort and has backed off ever so slightly late in fights. He would have stopped Antonio Margarito had he gone for it and he could have stopped Miguel Cotto several rounds earlier than he did.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not likely that he\u2019ll change against Mosley, so look for Pacquiao to rack up the rounds and win the fight by a wide unanimous decision.<\/p>\n

If Pacquiao makes a glaring mistake, he\u2019ll be at risk, because Mosley can punch and he won\u2019t have to search to find Pacquiao the way he did Mayweather. But barring an unlikely mistake, Mosley\u2019s chances would seem to be limited.<\/p>\n

Expect Pacquiao to win at least 10 of the 12 rounds and further solidify his position as the best fighter on the planet.<\/p>\n

Other popular stories on Yahoo! Sports:<\/strong>
\u2022 \u2018Fake\u2019 Manny Pacquiao may sing better than real one<\/a>
\u2022 Horse named after Tim Tebow flops at Churchill Downs<\/a>
\u2022 Company drops Mendenhall over bin Laden tweets<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n

Taken from:
\nPacquiao couldn\u2019t be more prepared for Mosley (Yahoo! Sports)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LAS VEGAS \u2013 There was a time not that long ago that those in Manny Pacquiao\u2019s camp had legitimate reason to be worried before his major fights. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-419025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nPacquiao couldn\u2019t be more prepared for Mosley (Yahoo! Sports) - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/06\/pacquiao-couldnt-be-more-prepared-for-mosley-yahoo-sports\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Pacquiao couldn\u2019t be more prepared for Mosley (Yahoo! Sports) - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"LAS VEGAS \u2013 There was a time not that long ago that those in Manny Pacquiao\u2019s camp had legitimate reason to be worried before his major fights.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"http:\/\/us.i1.yimg.com\/us.yimg.com\/i\/us\/sp\/gr\/video_s.gif\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/06\/pacquiao-couldnt-be-more-prepared-for-mosley-yahoo-sports\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/06\/pacquiao-couldnt-be-more-prepared-for-mosley-yahoo-sports\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Pacquiao couldn\u2019t be more prepared for Mosley (Yahoo! Sports)\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-05-06T14:45:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/06\/pacquiao-couldnt-be-more-prepared-for-mosley-yahoo-sports\/\"},\"wordCount\":1220,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/06\/pacquiao-couldnt-be-more-prepared-for-mosley-yahoo-sports\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/us.i1.yimg.com\/us.yimg.com\/i\/us\/sp\/gr\/video_s.gif\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/06\/pacquiao-couldnt-be-more-prepared-for-mosley-yahoo-sports\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/06\/pacquiao-couldnt-be-more-prepared-for-mosley-yahoo-sports\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/06\/pacquiao-couldnt-be-more-prepared-for-mosley-yahoo-sports\/\",\"name\":\"Pacquiao couldn\u2019t be more prepared for Mosley (Yahoo! Sports) - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/06\/pacquiao-couldnt-be-more-prepared-for-mosley-yahoo-sports\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/06\/pacquiao-couldnt-be-more-prepared-for-mosley-yahoo-sports\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/us.i1.yimg.com\/us.yimg.com\/i\/us\/sp\/gr\/video_s.gif\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-05-06T14:45:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/06\/pacquiao-couldnt-be-more-prepared-for-mosley-yahoo-sports\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/06\/pacquiao-couldnt-be-more-prepared-for-mosley-yahoo-sports\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/us.i1.yimg.com\/us.yimg.com\/i\/us\/sp\/gr\/video_s.gif\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/us.i1.yimg.com\/us.yimg.com\/i\/us\/sp\/gr\/video_s.gif\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Pacquiao couldn\u2019t be more prepared for Mosley (Yahoo! Sports) - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/06\/pacquiao-couldnt-be-more-prepared-for-mosley-yahoo-sports\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Pacquiao couldn\u2019t be more prepared for Mosley (Yahoo! Sports) - Ghanamma.com","twitter_description":"LAS VEGAS \u2013 There was a time not that long ago that those in Manny Pacquiao\u2019s camp had legitimate reason to be worried before his major fights.","twitter_image":"http:\/\/us.i1.yimg.com\/us.yimg.com\/i\/us\/sp\/gr\/video_s.gif","twitter_creator":"@ghanamma","twitter_site":"@ghanamma","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/06\/pacquiao-couldnt-be-more-prepared-for-mosley-yahoo-sports\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/06\/pacquiao-couldnt-be-more-prepared-for-mosley-yahoo-sports\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"Pacquiao couldn\u2019t be more prepared for Mosley (Yahoo! Sports)","datePublished":"2011-05-06T14:45:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/06\/pacquiao-couldnt-be-more-prepared-for-mosley-yahoo-sports\/"},"wordCount":1220,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/06\/pacquiao-couldnt-be-more-prepared-for-mosley-yahoo-sports\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/us.i1.yimg.com\/us.yimg.com\/i\/us\/sp\/gr\/video_s.gif","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/06\/pacquiao-couldnt-be-more-prepared-for-mosley-yahoo-sports\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/06\/pacquiao-couldnt-be-more-prepared-for-mosley-yahoo-sports\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/06\/pacquiao-couldnt-be-more-prepared-for-mosley-yahoo-sports\/","name":"Pacquiao couldn\u2019t be more prepared for Mosley (Yahoo! Sports) - Ghanamma.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/06\/pacquiao-couldnt-be-more-prepared-for-mosley-yahoo-sports\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/06\/pacquiao-couldnt-be-more-prepared-for-mosley-yahoo-sports\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/us.i1.yimg.com\/us.yimg.com\/i\/us\/sp\/gr\/video_s.gif","datePublished":"2011-05-06T14:45:00+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/06\/pacquiao-couldnt-be-more-prepared-for-mosley-yahoo-sports\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/06\/pacquiao-couldnt-be-more-prepared-for-mosley-yahoo-sports\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/us.i1.yimg.com\/us.yimg.com\/i\/us\/sp\/gr\/video_s.gif","contentUrl":"http:\/\/us.i1.yimg.com\/us.yimg.com\/i\/us\/sp\/gr\/video_s.gif"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/","name":"Ghanamma.com","description":"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=419025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419025\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=419025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=419025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=419025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}