Lederman Fears: I Think Pacquiao is Going To Kill Mosley
By Chris Robinson
On December 17th, Manny Pacquiao celebrated his 32nd birthday in General Santos City, Philippines as he partied into the early morning hours with some 2,000 guests including the likes of promoter Bob Arum, trainer Freddie Roach and WBO featherweight champion Juan Manuel Lopez. It was of no secret that Pacquiao was going to discuss his future in the prize ring with Arum and Roach as well as his agent Michael Koncz and while nothing is official it seems likely that we will see him defend his WBO welterweight crown against Shane Mosley on May 7th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Much like his November 13th victory over Antonio Margarito, a fight with Mosley isn’t a priority for too many parties, especially considering how poor the 39-year old looked in his last two fights as he was dominated by Floyd Mayweather in May before struggling to a draw against Sergio Mora four months later. If Mosley does indeed push through as the next dance partner, Pacquiao will be favored heavily to win big.
One man who will be at the Filipino icon’s next fight regardless of who he faces is unofficial ringside judge Harold Lederman, known best for his role as an HBO commentator over the years. During his recent visit to Las Vegas to cover the Amir Khan-Marcos Maidana bout I asked Lederman his take on a potential Pacquiao-Mosley fight and he was more unrelenting that usual with his words.
Some highlights of our conversation can be found below…
Fearing for Shane Mosley…
“I think Manny Pacquiao is going to kill him. I don’t know. ‘Sugar’ Shane is no youngster and he is taking on a guy who is deadly. I mean, realistically, unless Manny Pacquiao is distracted by his job as a congressman, I can’t see him doing anything but going out there and giving ‘Sugar’ Shane, at his age now, the same beating that he gave to Antonio Margarito and Joshua Clottey in the last couple of fights. Manny looks like he is really at the top of this game. It’s going to be very, very difficult for Shane Mosley.”
Better and better…
“Manny Pacquiao is terrific. He’s fast, he’s a southpaw, and you don’t see the punches coming. He gives you all kinds of angles and he gets out of there before you can hit him back. I tell ya, every time I watch Manny he gets better. They said he had a lousy training camp for Antonio Margarito but he hit him with everything but the stool. And the referee, he didn’t hit him with the referee. But seriously, what a beating he gave Margarito. They said Margarito was bigger, Margarito could puncher harder. What Manny did to him was a joke.”
The savage nature of Pacquiao-Margarito…
“Horrible job of refereeing. I think Laurence Cole should have stopped that fight in the 9th. Laurence Cole talks how the safety of boxing is his most important job and he wants a guy to go out and nearly get killed. If Margarito would have gone to the hospital with a brain injury it would have been deadly for boxing. It would have thrown boxing into such a bad light in the public eye. When you let a guy like Margarito take a beating like that it could have been fatal. Thank the lord he didn’t have any brain damage from all the shots to the head he was taking.”
Uncertainty with Shane…
“I don’t know what’s going on with Shane and his share of Golden Boy, whether it still is in existence or whatever. I just don’t know what to say. I hope Naazim Richardson is able to work with Shane and get him ready. But the guy is 39 years old and is just on the downslide. To me it looks like Shane is just in there for a payday.”
Remembering vintage Mosley…
“A prime Shane Mosley really would have been a great fight for Pacquiao. Now that would have been a fight. The Shane Mosley who fought Oscar De La Hoya the first time, the first fight with De La Hoya, he was a great fight for anybody at 147 pounds. ‘Sugar’ Shane was a great fighter from 135 all the way up to 147, there’s no question about it. There’s no question. The Shane Mosley who beat Philip Holiday would have been a great fight for Manny Pacquiao, no doubt.”
Pacquiao’s unprecedented rise in weight…
“I don’t know what to blame it on. I was shocked at the Ricky Hatton knockout. Certainly the Oscar De La Hoya win. He just comes up with wins that make him look better and better. Against Joshua Clottey he was amazing. Against Antonio Margarito he was amazing. He stays active, he fights three times a year, he gives the fans their money’s worth every time.”
Pacquiao in and out of the ring…
“He certainly doesn’t understand the questions from Max Kellerman and Larry Merchant. He doesn’t have a clue what they are asking at the end of the fight. Be as it may, Manny is a funny guy. All you know for sure is, that watching the 24/7 [episodes], that he works like hell, he gets himself the right sparring partners. He gets himself in the right frame of mind. And he’s got unbelievable natural ability. And it’s all coming to the front right now. How long he can keep on going like this, I don’t know.”
Straying away from Martinez and company…
“I just hope that he doesn’t’ try to go up any higher in weight because he keeps on taking on all these huge guys. Every time they talk about Manny Pacquiao and Sergio Martinez I cringe. Because one thing Manny doesn’t need is a middleweight at this stage of his life. The welterweights hits hard enough.”
Amazing talent…
“Manny is used to walking out of these fights without a mark on him and it’s amazing how he does it. I thought he was going to be distracted by all this work in congress in the Philippines and yet, look what he did to Antonio Margarito. Manny just took him apart. Amazing athlete, amazing talent, I never expected that he was going to be as good as he is, I certainly would love to see him and Floyd. And what else can you say? Floyd Mayweather, take the fight.”
Chris Robinson is based out of Las Vegas, Nevada. An archive of his work can be found here, and he can be reached at Trimond@aol.com
