{"id":419499,"date":"2011-05-08T07:41:00","date_gmt":"2011-05-08T07:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/05\/08\/pacquiaos-best-even-when-not-at-his-best-yahoo-sports\/"},"modified":"2011-05-08T07:41:00","modified_gmt":"2011-05-08T07:41:00","slug":"pacquiaos-best-even-when-not-at-his-best-yahoo-sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/08\/pacquiaos-best-even-when-not-at-his-best-yahoo-sports\/","title":{"rendered":"Pacquiao’s best, even when not at his best (Yahoo! Sports)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

LAS VEGAS \u2013 This is how good Manny Pacquiao has become: His legs were cramping, he wasn\u2019t on top of his game and he still nearly shut out Shane Mosley.<\/p>\n

Pacquiao, who was once dismissed as a small fighter, knocked Mosley down hard in the third round and sent the one-time pound-for-pound king scurrying around the ring for most of the rest of the fight, unwilling to engage.<\/p>\n

It was far from a scintillating performance and the crowd booed frequently in the second half of the fight. Pacquiao, though, has improved to such a degree that even when he has an off night, he blows guys out. Pacquiao won by scores of 120-107, 120-108 and 119-108 Saturday before a sellout crowd of 16,412 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.<\/p>\n

Pacquiao wasn\u2019t thrilled that Mosley didn\u2019t stand and engage. That left him with cramped legs trying to chase Mosley and resulted in the rare less-than-entertaining Pacquiao bout.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll tell you the truth: I was expecting him to fight with me at least five rounds of the 12 rounds toe-to-toe with me so that we could test our power, our stamina,\u201d Pacquiao said before heading across the street to Mandalay Bay to perform a concert. \u201cBut what could I do if my opponent doesn\u2019t want to fight toe-to-toe? It\u2019s not my fault.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m happy, because I know I won the fight. But I said my first concern is the satisfaction of the people. I want the people to be satisfied with my performance and to leave happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

No one who was expecting a great fight could have been happy, whether they bought tickets or plunked down the money for the pay-per-view. It was a low-drama, low-action match and the outcome wasn\u2019t in doubt over the final 10 rounds.<\/p>\n

Mosley, who said after the fight that \u201cthis could be it\u201d for his superlative career, said he was shocked by Pacquiao\u2019s punching power. He said before the fight that he wasn\u2019t fighting a small guy and Pacquiao\u2019s power proved that out.<\/p>\n

But Pacquiao throws with such little effort that it often doesn\u2019t seem like it\u2019s a dangerous blow incoming until it lands.<\/p>\n

\u201cManny Pacquiao has the type of power I had to watch out for,\u201d Mosley said. \u201cUsually, I can go in there and punch with guys, but it seemed like he had something a little different. I had to watch out.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were different punches that he threw that didn\u2019t seem to be hard, but the impact definitely was hard. I really had to watch out for those particular shots he threw. Like I said, Manny is a great fighter and he threw some great punches.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mosley\u2019s plan was to work off the angles and try to counter Pacquiao, but Mosley was unable to get off. He looked like a fighter within sight of his 40th birthday and didn\u2019t have the speed and explosiveness that was such a big part of his game.<\/p>\n

Nor, Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach said, did he have the desire for combat that he displayed for most of his career.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think he tried to win the fight,\u201d Roach said. \u201cHe just tried to survive. When you get to that point in boxing, it\u2019s time to call it a day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pacquiao is so good that he\u2019s lapped the field a second time and almost making his fights anticlimactic. Top Rank\u2019s Bob Arum said he will submit a new offer to the management team of lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez. Golden Boy has the right to match the offer and if Golden Boy matches, it would pit Marquez against Saul \u201cCanelo\u201d Alvarez.<\/p>\n

If Golden Boy does that, Arum said he\u2019d offer a Pacquiao bout, tentatively slated for Nov. 12 in Las Vegas, to one of two super lightweight champions, Timothy Bradley or Zab Judah. But as great as they are, it\u2019s hard to imagine either being able to do much with this fighting machine.<\/p>\n

Arum, though, isn\u2019t afraid that he\u2019ll lose pay-per-view sales even though Pacquiao\u2019s fights have become predictably one-sided.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople will pay to see Manny Pacquiao,\u201d Arum said. \u201cBecause he is not dull. He is the aggressor. He is an entertaining fighter. I believe most people who saw the fight bought it not with the expectation that Shane Mosley would win. They bought the Margarito fight, not because they thought Margarito would win, but because they wanted to be entertained by Manny Pacquiao.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even Pacquiao had difficulty being entertaining given the circumstances on Saturday. Mosley was given a knockdown in the 10th when he hurled Pacquiao to the canvas. Referee Kenny Bayless ruled it a knockdown in favor of Mosley, but later apologized to Pacquiao for it.<\/p>\n

Pacquiao was angered by it and he went hard after Mosley looking for the finish.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got a little angry,\u201d Pacquiao said.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s too bad that he didn\u2019t get angrier early, but he spent much of the night touching gloves with Mosley in a display of sportsmanship that didn\u2019t doo much for those who were looking for action.<\/p>\n

Even when he\u2019s not clicking on all cylinders, however, Pacquiao is far better than the rest of the field. There aren\u2019t a lot of guys around his weight who he could fight, particularly if Floyd Mayweather Jr. continues to be more interested in watching Lady Gaga than he is in boxing.<\/p>\n

Arum said he wouldn\u2019t rule out a bout with middleweight champ Sergio Martinez, though he is wary of it because by fight time, Martinez might weigh nearly 30 pounds more.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still think Manny would beat him, but it\u2019s not fair to ask him to give up that much weight,\u201d Arum said.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also not fair, though, to ask mere mortals to get into the ring with Pacquiao. If Mayweather doesn\u2019t take the challenge \u2013 and he\u2019s showing no inclination to do so \u2013 we might be in for a long string of these one-sided routs.<\/p>\n

Get used to it. They aren\u2019t going anywhere.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n

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