By Ronnie Nathanielsz

Filipino national treasure Manny Pacquiao is focused on his fight against IBO light welterweight champion Ricky “The Hitman” Hatton and isn’t thinking of the possibility of a fight against newly crowned welterweight champion “Sugar” Shane Mosley who scored a stunning 9th round TKO win over Antonio Margarito on Sunday, Manila Time.

Three boxing personalities also waded in on the question of a Mosley fight after television announcers Allan Massingale and Rich Marotta raised the possibility of “the little guy from the Philippines” taking on Mosley just like he did when he battled heavily-favored Oscar De La Hoya at 147 pounds and mauled him into submission in eight rounds last December 6.

World Boxing Council founding secretary general Rudy Salud, a longtime and ardent supporter of Pacquiao said he believes Mosley is “too big for Manny” and it won’t be an attractive fight that will draw the fans to the venue or on pay-per-view.

Internationally respected referee/judge Bruce McTavish told insidesports.ph, Standard Today and Viva Sports  that Pacquiao “needs to take care of Hatton first” before thinking of future fights since Hatton is a tough opponent and cannot be taken lightly.

McTavish said that if Pacquiao’s handlers were thinking of another fight at 147 pounds then they should hope for a Mosley rematch against Miguel Cotto with Pacquiao fighting the winner which McTavish said would be “one of the biggest fights ever.”

American trainer Rick Stehely who prepared Pacquiao for his WBC flyweight title fight against Thai hero Chatchai Sasakul in December 1998 which Pacquiao won by a sensational eighth round knockout said a Pacquiao fight against Mosley would be tough.

Stehely said Mosely was “still pretty quick and has an awful lot of power” and that “Manny will have a problem.” He said to use Pacquiao’s performance against De La Hoya as a yardstick in assessing his chances against Mosley would not be wise, noting that De La Hoya “was a shell of his former self.”

To both McTavish and Stehely if Floyd Mayweather Jr comes out of retirement because of reported problems with the US Internal Revenue Service regarding his taxes then that may be a better option.

Stehely said Mayweather “is vulnerable” because of his long layoff while pointing out that he “doesn’t throw a lot of punches.”