Pacquiao Has Pick of Opponents After Victory at LinesMaker.com

Pacquiao Has Pick of Opponents After Victory

LAS VEGAS —Manny Pac­quiao returned to his cor­ner before the 12th round to an unfa­mil­iar sound­track of steady boos ris­ing from the MGM Grand Garden crowd.

The fans weren’t jeer­ing their beloved Fil­ipino con­gress­man. They were incensed that Sugar Shane Mosley appar­ently was scared to fight him.

“I told him in the last round, ‘You’ve got to knock this guy out, because it’s embar­rass­ing,“‘ Pac­quiao trainer Fred­die Roach said. “He told me, ‘Coach, I’m try­ing, I’m trying.“‘

Mosley was in full retreat from the open­ing round against Pac­quiao, backpedal­ing and scram­bling sim­ply to avoid get­ting knocked out.

Pac­quiao, who won his 14th straight fight by lop­sided unan­i­mous deci­sion, has seen this embar­rass­ing strat­egy before. Most every­body agrees Floyd May­weather Jr. has been dodg­ing Pac­quiao for the past year, only out­side the ring.

If May­weather declines another chance to fight Pac­quiao in the most antic­i­pated matchup in box­ing, Pac­quiao will keep busy with his con­gres­sional duties until his next fight in early November—yet even his pro­moter acknowl­edges it’s tough to imag­ine any oppo­nent but May­weather pos­ing prob­lems for Pacquiao.

“The prob­lem is, and this is becom­ing a pat­tern, Manny doesn’t allow any oppo­nent to fight his fight,” Bob Arum said. “He takes every oppo­nent out of his fight because of his speed and power. You’ve got to under­stand what you’re watch­ing now. You’re watch­ing a phe­nom­e­non, the great­est fighter that I’ve ever seen. Nobody can com­pete with him. He’ll take every fighter out of his game, every single one.”

Pacquiao’s native Philip­pines grinded to a halt Sun­day, with fans watch­ing every­where from crowded jails to pub­lic plazas fit­ted with huge screens as Pac­quiao flum­moxed Mosley, who embar­rassed him­self in what’s prob­a­bly the last megafight of his dec­o­rated 18-year career.

Pac­quiao knocked him down in the third round and never stopped chas­ing him, but Mosley sur­vived on his feet and even got credit for a bogus knock­down in the 10th. Roach said Mosley tar­nished his legacy.

“He backpedaled the whole night,” Roach said. “He never took one step for­ward to try to press the action. His jab is in moth­balls. I never saw it. His legs are gone. It wasn’t shock­ing, but I expected more. I like Shane, he’s a nice guy, but he’d bet­ter quit before he gets hurt.”

Roach also wasn’t happy with the fight’s col­le­gial vibe, which included touch­ing gloves before every round—something usu­ally saved for spar­ring sessions—and hug­ging before the 12th.

“Why are you touch­ing gloves? Is he your friend?” Roach asked his fighter. “I hate that. You’re sup­posed to be try­ing to knock this guy out.”

The atmos­phere likely won’t be so friendly in Pacquiao’s next fight. The three main can­di­dates for Pacquiao’s next bout haven’t usu­ally been the hugging types.

A third fight with Mex­i­can star Juan Manuel Mar­quez appar­ently is Arum’s first choice, ful­fill­ing the dreams of fans who thor­oughly enjoyed their 2004 draw and 2008 split-decision win for Pac­quiao. If Mar­quez doesn’t like the deal, Arum will turn to bruis­ing 140-pound champ Tim­o­thy Bradley or vet­eran Zab Judah, who would both wel­come the chance to be on the sport’s biggest stage.

Roach would pre­fer to fight May­weather, believ­ing it’s the most intrigu­ing matchup and the most lucra­tive oppor­tu­nity for a fighter who says he’s likely to retire after a few more big bouts, although Roach believes Pac­quiao could fight into the deep end of his 30s.

But if May­weather still won’t answer Pacquiao’s calls, Roach hopes they’ll face Marquez.

“All I hear from him and Nacho (Beris­tain, Marquez’s trainer) is how they got robbed,” Roach said. “I’d like that fight one more time, see how much they’ve both changed since that time. I think we’ve got­ten a lot better.”

A meet­ing with Bradley, the two-belt cham­pion from Palm Springs, Calif., would be a bru­tally phys­i­cal bout against a fighter with a reputation—deserved or not—for throw­ing elbows and head-butts.

“It’s not an easy fight for Manny, but I feel (Bradley) is just not big enough,” Roach said. “He would need a miracle.”

Roach said Pac­quiao could meet Bradley or Mar­quez at a catch weight around 144 pounds, but Pac­quiao doesn’t want to get much smaller than that. Roach also wouldn’t put Pac­quiao in against British 140-pound cham­pion Amir Khan, say­ing Khan “is get­ting bet­ter, but he’s not at that level yet. Manny would be too much, too soon.”

Yet the dis­cus­sion always comes back to May­weather, who’s fac­ing many more upcom­ing court dates than fight dates as he whiles away his mid-30s in his Las Vegas man­sion, trash­ing Pac­quiao on Twit­ter and gam­bling heav­ily on sports.

Pac­quiao has won eight fights since the end of 2007, beat­ing an array of qual­ity fight­ers and vet­eran greats from Oscar De La Hoya to Mar­quez and Miguel Cotto. May­weather has fought just twice in that time, enjoy­ing a brief retire­ment before beat­ing Mar­quez and dom­i­nat­ing Mosley on May 1, 2010.

“There isn’t a day in my life that goes by that some­body doesn’t ask me about that fight,” Roach said. “Peo­ple say, ‘Make that fight.’ I wish I could.”

Related Posts:

• Fans Jeer Jack­son After UFC 130 Win
• Bril­liant Pacquiao’s Prime Is Being Squandered
• May­weather Isn’t Gaga About Pac­quiao Fight
• Change of Oppo­nents? I’m Ready
• Pacquiao’s Best, Even When Not at His Best

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