Arum: Pacquiao Never Faced Someone With Mosley's Skill

By Lem Satterfield

On May 7 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Manny Pacquiao (52-3-2, 38 knockouts) will defend his WBO welterweight belt in an HBO pay per view televised against Shane Mosley (46-6-1, 39 KOs), even as his WBC junior middleweight belt will not be on the line. Pacquiao's selection of the aging Mosley has drawn criticism from the boxing community, but during a recent interview with FanHouse, Top Rank Promotions' CEO, Bob Arum.

"Manny Pacquiao, with all due respect, never has fought a fighter of the ability and the skill set of Mosley. Mosley is the epitome of an African American fighter with a style," said Arum.

"And even though he is a little on in age, he still has that style and he still has that punching power. "And I, for one, am curious as to how Pacquiao deals with that type of style, which he hasn't faced before. That's the interesting part of this fight."

Bernard Hopkins got the ball rolling a few months ago when making critical comments about the lack of African American opponents on Pacquiao's record.

"Bernard Hopkins took some criticism for saying what he said, but Hopkins is a good student of the game," said Arum. "It's not any racist kind of thing that he's saying. It's just that the African American style that we all know -- and, even though not every African American fights that style -- but the African American style is a distinct style."

Lem Satterfield is the boxing editor at AOL FanHouse and the news editor at BoxingScene.com. To read more from Lem Satterfield, go to AOL FanHouse by Clicking Here .