Anyone who ordered the pay-per-view fight last Saturday between Manny Pacquiao and Sugar SHAME Mosley (my new nickname for the loser) would be correct in demanding your money back.
At least if you were in Vegas, you could have won your money back betting the fight. For the rest of us, we were taken in by the promoters.
You wanted a fight? For the masses of Filipinos throughout the world watching via satellite, what we saw could only be described as a glorified sparring contest at best, a fraud at worst.
It was like karaoke boxing. Not really boxing, but it sort of looked and sounded like it. And everyone was drunk and had a good time anyway, right? Not exactly.
For our money we all deserved to see a real genuine battle between two men who actually punch at each other. We don’t watch boxing to see how sportsmanlike the boxers are in their etiquette. We watch to see two brave opponents beat each other to the pulp. But in this title bout, no less, we had Pacquiao and Mosley practically hugging and winking at each other, love-tapping their gloves at the start and finish of each round.
Now I see why many people have turned to MMA. There’s no pussyfooting there. And if there was, you could really tell.
In boxing, all the worse evasive things were on display in Saturday’s championship fight. Mosley didn’t land many punches because he didn’t throw many. He was on the run most of the fight. The ring isn’t the place to do your roadwork.
Even M.P., our hero, seemed to go at it in cruise control. When Pacquiao knocked down Mosley in the 3rd round, one expected to see Pacman go for the kill. Instead, Pacquiao seemed to let Mosley continue the charade. M.P surely didn’t fight like his life depended on it.
Pacquiao did seem to wake up when Mosley stepped on his foot then pushed him down. Counted as a knockdown, the unfairness of it all seemed to inspire Pacquiao to step up the assault. A matter of honor, I guess. But by then, he was so far ahead, there was just no point.
And that is the problem for both fighters. For Mosley, who should do everyone a favor and go off and retire, there was no point in this fight, other than to collect his massive pay day.
For Pacquiao, it’s getting to be the same thing. There is no one left to fight except Floyd Mayweather, who continues to make unreasonable demands that make booking the “dream fight” more and more unlikely.
Mayweather may have wanted to look at how Pacquiao handled a seemingly stronger, larger opponent (as if he didn’t have ample evidence). But there was something about the aging Mosley that seemed to make many people doubt Pacquiao. The pay-per-view seemed particularly biased toward Mosley, as if this would be the comeuppance for Pacquiao, the smaller man.
By the end, sportscaster James Brown, who is related by marriage to Filipina Loida Lewis, was apologizing for having bought into the Mosley hype. He should be. Another doubter of Filipino prowess fights the dust.
I imagine even Mayweather was looking at the fight as a barometer of how well he’d do against Pacquaio. Mayweather had beaten Mosley recently, but not as easy as the Pacman did.
Seeing Mosley, his battered face puffed up and swollen, say that he was surprised by Pacquiao’s power probably didn’t make Mayweather call his agent and say, “Let’s book this fight.”
I’ve always said Pacquiao should quit while he still has his head. It’s no different now. He has so much to give to the world beyond yellow boxing gloves. Let’s hope he quits now.
After Mosley, I don’t care to see any more. Readers will note that as an avid Pacquiao follower I was mum on this fight prior to Saturday. It just didn’t seem worth talking about. Now the fight’s real value emerges.
It could be Pacquiao’s last.
If it is, it wouldn’t surprise me.
Manny has nothing else to prove in the ring.
For the sport, he should quit now.
But for his accountant, his bank statement, and his entire entourage, the beat goes on.
