By Chris LaBate
An interesting thought by Naazim Richardson, the trainer for "Sugar" Shane Mosley. Going by the "he's the man who beat the man theory" - Richardson believes Floyd Mayweather Jr. will get an excuse to avoid a fight with Manny Pacquiao on May 7 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. That's the day Mosley will challenge Pacquiao for the WBO welterweight title. Richardson has full confidence in his boxer being able to beat Pacquiao. By doing so, Richardson predicts that Mayweather will walk away from any talk of facing Pacquiao.
“I think the Pacquiao fight with Shane will give him a chance to do what he has several times before. You’ve seen Shane lose to Vernon Forrest. Mayorga slashed Vernon Forrest. Then Shane smashed Mayorga. You’ve seen him lose to Cotto. Margarito slashed Cotto. Then Shane smashed Margarito. In this fight, what it is going to do is let Mayweather off of the hook. Because Mayweather will say he could have beat Pacquiao without them ever fighting because they will see Shane go in there and smash Pacquiao and then they assume that Mayweather would have beat Pacquiao,” Richardson told BoxingScene.com's Chris Robinson.
Richardson expects Mosley to be very game in this fight. He considers the opportunity to fight Pacquiao as a bigger moment for Mosley than the Mayweather fight last May.
“Shane’s got a chance to shock the world. You don’t get these opportunities. Very seldom do you get these opportunities. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and even surpasses the Mayweather opportunity. Shane has to rise to the occasion,” Richardson said.
