Ex Mosley Foe Mora Says Shane Will Hurt Pacquiao

Written by Michael Woods

Tuesday, 15 February 2011 18:25

Shane Will Hurt Pacquiao Sergio Mora had the pleasure of tangling with Manny Pacquiao's next victim, Shane Mosley, back in September. That waltz didn't make anyone's fight of the year list, but Mora's last outing, against Brian Vera on the February 4th Friday Night Fights, was quite the fan friendly rumble.

I called Mora to congratulate him on the effort, which goes down in the record books as a split decision loss, and to get his thoughts on Mosley's chances against Pacquiao on May 5 in Las Vegas. I wanted to get his take on how much Mosley has left, as I've been nagged by my certainty that Mosley simply doesn't have the needed skills remaining to make many problems for Pacman. That nagging is acute, since as I wrote Monday, I have a hard time coming down on the other side of a Freddie Roach assessment. He thinks Mosley will be formidable. I do not. Mr. Mora, please weigh in...

"I think Mosley is going to be able to do well," said Mora, the 30-year-old Californian with a 22-2 mark. "I think Mosley hurts Pacquiao in the third or fourth round."

Mora made some stellar points in building something of a case for Mosley. One, that he was off for almost a year and a half before he fought Floyd Mayweather, on May 1, 2010. So if there were times when he looked something close to shot there, we should factor in the rust, and of course, that Mayweather is a defensive Picasso. Also, Mora said, yes indeed Mosley didn't look great against him. But Mora's defense was on high alert that night, as he respected Mosley's power. And Mosley traditionally looks less than wondrous against defensive masters: against Winky Wright, against an on-his-game-De La Hoya, against Luis Collazzo, he wasn't on his 'A' game. "We made him look bad," Mora said. But, Mora stated, against an aggressor like Pacman, the warrior in Mosley will come to the fore.

"Now, I didn't say Mosley would win," he said, chuckling. "I don't think it will go the distance. And I'll bet the house."

Mora acknowledges that Mosley has lost a foot off his fastball. The fighter and I agreed that a better, more respectful term than "shot," or "nearly shot," would be "diminished." Yes, Mora said, Mosley is diminished. "But he is a born fighter, a smart fighter, who gave me trouble with his angles and strength. If you want to call him "shot" because he gets hit more, that happens to every guy as they get older. But he still has speed, power and intelligence."

To reiterate, Mora still likes Manny in this scrap, bigtime. He become a full on believer when he saw what Manny did to Margarito. Mora has sparred with Margarito going back more than ten years, and had seen Margarito take punishment from light heavies: "What Pacquiao did was unbelievable. I sparred Margarito for so long. The man has cement in his head. And he works really, really hard. Manny dismantled him, and Cotto, and Clottey. It made me consider him among the greatest of all time! Finally, I admit it!"

Mora told me he's looking to get a rematch with Vera, on neutral turf. He didn't like the setup in Texas, Vera's home base, at all. The 16 foot ring did him no favors, he said, and neither did having to fight in soggy gloves, which had already been used and were sweat-logged. He will sit down with his promoter, Richard Schaefer, on Friday, and lobby for a chance to show Vera that away from his territory, he won't have the same luck.

I asked him if he'd sent a "Did you see that?" text to Jim Lampley, the HBO man who gave Mora a thumbs down for his showing against Mosley. Mora laughed and said he hadn't. But he admitted that while it isn't the best idea for career longevity or longterm health, fan friendly brawls are good to engage in now and again. "In a weird way I wanted to put myself in that situation after the fight I had with Mosley," he said.

"And I didn't quit though I was cut, like Devon Alexnader! Do I say I was robbed, no. But I absolutely feel I deserved the decision. That it was a split decision in his hometown says I deserved the decision. I want a rematch, and this time I'll embarrass him. We'll give fans something great, but it'll be easier for me, and it'll be just as physical."

Comment on this article

brownsugar says:

The Vera fight was more interesting than I anticipated. Mora seemed to have the better technical ability but was too passive in spots. Mora doesn't seem to have a stamina problem but he didn't seem busy enough. Vera's the kind of fighter whose aggressiveness can be easily turned against him. He's one of those guys who likes to get hit. Kirkland proved he does have a limit to how much punishment he can absorb. Shane and Floyd were pretty even as far as inactivity. Floyd had only one fight in 23 months (Marquez), why wasn't he rusty?? Mora is an opponent that Shane had no reason to fight. If he was trying to prove that he could handle slick fighters,... then he failed again. Although coming out with a draw against a top 25 middleweight has to count for something. Yes,.. Manny is aggressive,.. but it's smart aggression, not Aaron Pryor crazy aggression. Manny will pick his spots... and turn up the heat as Mosley begins to wilt. By the time Pac begins to really tear into Mosley,.. Mosley won't have enough left to resist.

FighterforJC says:

Mayweather wasn't as rusty against Mosley because even though Mayweather has only fought once in 23 months, he had the benefit of having fought about 8 months earlier. Mosley's inactivity was twice as long as Mayweather's when they fought each other, not to mention Mosley being nearly 39. In my opinion, the Mosley that Pacquiao will face is a better Mosley than the one Mayweather fought because Mosley has fought twice, and Pacquiao will be Mosley's 3rd fight in the span of 12 months.

aymokay says:

manny admits that he always got hurt after each fight, he just doesn't show it to his opponent during the fight so his opponent would not gain the psychological advantage. The problem is there's a lot out there who think that manny is invincible. manny's boxing skills maybe extraordinary and possibly the best but when he got hit, it hurts him. He is a natural human being physically speaking. And that issue of ducking or cherry picking opponents is most absurd, that is impossible to happen in the light welterweight and welterweight divisions because all the guys in those divisions are bigger than him physically, manny being a natural lightweight.

Radam G says:

The Azucar lad will be entering the dragon's domain and will get scorched and torched. double roasted and triple toasted. He has as much a chance of hurting THC PacMan as Big Money Oscar and Pops Joy May-trained Redcoat Ricky had. A lot of things look possible until one is in that squared jungle. Then dat sucka will be clumsy, lame and with no game. [From 8 years old to 38 years old, SSM has had trouble with the speed and movement of his opposition. Everybodeee and dey mommas have been knowing for 30 years how to beat the Pomona hard-punching kid. Quick punches upside his noggin and straight to his torso drive him crazy -- make him go wild. Whenever a boxer fights wild, whupping him is like taking candy from a special child. SSM has lost 22 bouts -- 16 in the amateurs and six in the pros -- all to speedy, fast-footed, fast-handed fighters. Da cat will never be in the proper position to hit Da Manny. Forget about his one shot on Money May and what he did to a drained, overtrained and disturbed Margarito. Margarito was a victim of psy-ops and black-ops of the wise, ole genie Naazim. This darn wise, ole genie will not be able to get up in THC Pac-head.] All respect due to my boy Mora, but he got played in Texas. And is now just shooting off at the mouth to make his bout with da Sugarman look better than it was. Kno' before ya go!

The Latin Snake got his mind on Texas. Editor Mike, you quizzed him at the wrong time about SSM or Da Manny. TLS is in a serious fog. Those Texans did the Tejano two step on his arse. Of course the ring was going to be smaller for the benefit of the Tejano pugilist. And the gloves were definitely going to be soggy to slow down the hand speed of TLS. Again this was to benefit the Tejano pugilist. Small rings, loose canvases, soggy gloves, blind judges, dumb referees and shortchanging a fighter on the pay are BIG TIME TRICKS of the trade. Mora is lucky that ESPN covered that card and paid the out-of-the-state-of-Texas fighters. Otherwise, they would have been not paid or badly shortchanged. If ESPN was not there, Mora would been fighting on a hole-filled, loose canvas too. Mora should drop GBP from promoting him, as did SSM and now Juan Manuel Marquez is waiting for his GBP contract to run out.

Back To SSM/THC PacMan bout. Da Sugarman is going to get his worst whupping as a pro fighter, but at least he is going to get his biggest purse. This bout is going to do some MAD MOOLA. Don't be surprised if the PPV payout match or beat the figures of the Big Money O/Money May Bout. Holla!

the Roast says:

Mora said this while running out of the room.

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