By Lem Satterfield
HBO's Larry Merchant believes eight-division king Manny Pacquiao "could lose" to three-division, five-time titlist, Shane Mosley, on May 7, in defense of his WBO welterweight belt at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas. Pacquiao (52-3-2, 38 knockouts) is riding a 13-bout winning streak that includes eight stoppages into the Showtime, pay per view televised clash with the 39-year-old Mosley (46-6-1, 39 KOs), whom Merchant calls, "a dangerous guy."
"If Mosley can get in shape to fight for 12 rounds, I'm saying that Shane Mosley could beat Manny Pacquiao," said Merchant. "But I'm not saying that he will."
In September, Mosley battled to a junior middleweight draw with 6-foot, ex-champion Sergio Mora (21-1-2, six KOs), a man who has split bouts with Forrest, who floored Mosley for the only time in the latter's career in their initial fight.
"Shane Mosley has fought everybody out there for decades and has been knocked down in only one fight -- the first one against Vernon Forrest. So Mosley always has had a great chin. A Mosley at 75 percent has way more offensive skills than somebody like Antonio Margarito or the previous guy Pacquiao fought, Joshua Clottey. That, to me, means that he's a dangerous guy. I mean, he's an underdog, and he should be the underdog, but I'm just saying that he's a dangerous guy given his makeup," said Merchant.
Pacquiao is coming off of a Nov. 13, HBO pay per view televised unanimous decision victory over for the WBC's vacant junior middleweight belt against Antonio Margarito, whom Mosley dethroned as WBA welterweight champion by ninth-round knockout in January of 2009.
"Let's just say compare the two guys. Look what Mosley did to Margarito and what Pacquiao did against Margarito. Who looked better?" said Merchant. "There's no doubt that Mosley looked better because he stopped the guy, and he's the only guy ever to have done that. That's an indication of how important styles are to veteran fighters, and that Mosley is just as tough as Margarito."
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 .
