The one wild card in all of this is Manny Pacquiao. He himself has stated that he is willing to fight Mosley. Since Manny has always seemed to be a man of the highest honor and integrity, it is conceivable that he really intends to fight Mosley next, but even if this is true, it is entirely plausible that Freddy Roach might be able to convince him otherwise. After all, unlike Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton, Roach knows that Mosley is a major threat to Manny. Roach is very perceptive when it comes to making match-ups that are favorable to his pride and joy fighter. He knew that Oscar was past it and unable to pull the trigger and he knew that Manny would have a field day with Hatton’s defensive deficiencies.

Sugar Shane Mosley poses an entirely different type of opponent and Roach is fully aware of this. That is why Roach has refused to allow Manny to face Mosley at 147 pounds like he did Oscar. He is smart enough to realize the threat posed by Mosley, ergo, his insistence on Mosley coming down below 147. That Mosley is even willing to openly concede a 60-40 purse split and an immediate rematch clause for Manny probably makes Roach even more weary of allowing Pacquiao to square off against him . Unlike his last three opponents, Shane is still a very fast fighter, and he also posses a great deal of power and accuracy in his right hand—a punch that Manny has proven susceptible to in the past. Even still, Manny is a very special fighter and he would certainly have a good chance to beat Mosley, even if Shane does present several obstacles that were lacking in Pacquiao’s last few opponents.

Puerto Rican Miguel Cotto, one of the possible next foes of Manny Pacquiao, has nothing but praises for the world’s pound-for-pound king.

Cotto, the WBO welterweight champion, told Examiner.com that he was also shocked by Pacquiao’s second round demolition of Ricky Hatton in the “Battle of East and West.”

“This was a huge surprise, I think, for everyone out there,” he remarked.

“He is one of the greatest boxers,” Cotto said of Pacquiao.

“I hear all the talk (on Pacquiao),” he mentioned on pitting him against “the Pacman.”

Aside from Cotto, other fighters deemed as Pacquiao’s possible opponents include Floyd Mayweather, Jr. and Juan Manuel Marquez (depending on who wins the July 18 Mayweather-Marquez bout).

“Sugar” Shane Mosley even offered a 40-60 split to face Pacquiao. But nothing has been finalized yet.

Cotto added, “But I keep my focus on this fight, on Joshua Clottey.”

The Puerto Rican will face Ghana’s Clottey on June 13 at the Madison Square Garden in New York.

Clottey, the former IBF welterweight champion, has a record of 35-2, with 21 KOs. Cotto, meanwhile, is at 33-1, with 27 KOs.

Pacquiao and his trainer, Freddie Roach, are expected to watch the bout at ringside.

Meantime, a Filipino fighter is set to fight in the Cotto-Clottey undercard. According to the Madison Square Garden website, www.TheGarden.com, Rodel Mayol will challenge WBO junior flyweight champion Ivan Calderon in 12 rounds.

Mayol, who hails from Mandaue City in Cebu, has 25 wins, three losses, and 19 knockouts. Puerto Rico’s Calderon, on the other hand, is undefeated at 32-0 with six knockouts.

By Dino Maragay
MANILA, Philippines – Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao has been ranked at the 57th place on Forbes magazine’s 100 most powerful celebrities in the world for 2009 — the lone professional boxer to be included in the list.
This marks the first time Pacquiao made it on the elite …

LOS ANGELES (AFP) — World Boxing Association welterweight champion Shane Mosley said Wednesday that only a few details stand between him and an October 17 fight with Philippines superstar Manny Pacquiao.
Pacquiao flattened England’s Ricky Hatton in the second round last month while Mosley stopped Mexico’s Antonio Margarito in the ninth …

By Michael David Smith
Manny Pacquiao, the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world, said Wednesday that he’s prepared to accept a challenge from Shane Mosley to be his next opponent — provided the two can work out details of a contract.
“No problem, we can fight. As long we negotiate,” Pacquiao …

By Lance Pugmire
Boxing’s pound-for-pound top fighter Manny Pacquiao told a Filipino news organization today that he would be willing to fight Pomona’s world welterweight champion Shane Mosley later this year, pending negotiations.
Though Mosley’s camp was quick to announce Pacquiao’s interest, saying Mosley would agree to fight at a catch weight …

By John Martinez
Ironboxing.com Boxing websites and forums are buzzing with activity regarding trainer extraordinaire, Freddie Roach, and whom he may be training next.
In a story carried by Eastsideboxing.com, but originally posted on Ringtalk.com, James Slater writes that Manny Pacquaio’s trainer, Freddie Roach, is set to become the newest instructor for …

Despite recent reports that he's only interested in facing Floyd Mayweather Jr., it appears Manny Pacquiao will play the waiting game before dismissing all other options for his next fight. Although his next bout is already set for October 17th, he has yet to decide who will be the lucky winner of the PacMan Sweeptakes and it looks like Floyd Mayweather Jr., Miguel Cotto, Shane Mosley, Juan Manuel Marquez and others are all still in the running. Of course, that being said, it should already be clear who the winner will be.

Miguel Cotto insists he will have too much for Joshua Clottey on June 13, a fight that will be shown live on Setanta Sports.

To watch this fight plus, of course, the hotly-anticipated David Haye-Wladimir Klitschko bout the following week, sign up to Setanta by clicking here.

Cotto has been linked with massive fights against Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather but in the Ghanaian he faces a tough opponent.

The two-weight champion is confident as long as he is on his game, there is no chance of Clottey leaving Madison Square Garden with the WBO welterweight title though.

“I feel that Manny Pacquiao’s big enough and should be strong enough for me and him to have a good fight,” said the 37-year-old, 5-foot-9 Mosley, a former world junior middleweight champion.

“Pacquiao was the only one that said yes, he would actually fight me, and I commend him for that. That’s how tough fighters should do.”

Mosley said he won’t be like the now-retired De La Hoya, who dodged criticisms about a supposed mismatch on his favor prior to his fight with Pacquiao in December last year in Las Vegas.

“The pound-for-pound guy is Pacquiao, so that’s my number one choice,” said Mosley. “I think about the future and accomplish my goal. My goal is to be the pound-for-pound No.1 fighter.”

“I want it to be known that I want to fight Pacquiao and I want to fight him now,” Mosley said. “I’m willing to meet at a catch weight to make that happen. I know this is what [Pacquiao trainer] Freddie Roach wants as well, as he has previously stated this to press. I am the best fighter in boxing and I am ready to reclaim the title of No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter.”

Mosley didn’t make it clear how low he would be willing to drop, but you have to figure he would need to make at least 144 pounds. Mosley weighed 146 for a few welterweight fights, but hasn’t been lower than that since 1999, when he made his last lightweight title defense at 135 pounds.

If you ask me, I’d love to see Mosley get Mayweather. I’ve wanted to see that fight since back in the day, when Mosley was lightweight champion and Mayweather was junior lightweight champion in the late 1990s. But I also really want to see Pacquiao-Mayweather, which is easily the biggest fight boxing has to offer. It would match the pound-for-pound king (Pacquiao) against the guy who gave it up by retiring but never lost it in the ring (Mayweather). I hope that fight happens and that Mosley is waiting for the winner.

“Floyd, quit running. Stop running. Stop saying that, oh, you know, I’m not a pay-per-view attraction, or this or that,” Mosley said in a recent television interview. “I’ve been fighting longer than you. I’ve been making money longer than you. That’s probably why you’re coming back to the sport right now is because you need money, you lost your money, now you had to come back and get some more money.

“We can make money together, alright? So let’s do it,” he added.

Mayweather has said he will fight all top opponents during his return.

MANILA, Philippines – The fight remains a dream showdown for now but trainer Freddie Roach already has an idea how his ward Manny Pacquiao will approach and break down Floyd Mayweather Jr if ever they climb the ring together.

“Floyd’s shoulder roll wouldn’t work against Manny,” Roach said when he guested recently on ESPN. “If he wants to lay on the rope, we’d love that. Manny will go to his body and Floyd will be broken down.”

Clamor for a possible Pacquiao-Mayweather bout remains high as ring aficionados want to see who will prevail in a battle between two pound-for-pound top guns.

Pacquiao has been the consensus P4P king since the unbeaten Mayweather retired a year and a half ago. Early this month, Mayweather announced his return to boxing, facing Pacquiao’s old rival Juan Manuel Marquez on July 18 and claiming he’s still the No. 1 fighter in the planet and the sport’s top draw.

>"In the last five years, you would look at the results and say Marquez. He has fought better fighters, Pacquiao twice, Diaz. Who in the hell is Carlos Baldomir? Zab Judah? Past his prime Oscar and only wins by one point?

"I think Mayweather’s hand speed is faster but he only throws one punch at a time. Marquez throws punches in the proverbial bunches. I think that’s going to be an interesting factor to see if Floyd can deal with it. He can’t put himself on the ropes like he did with Hatton. He knew he could just counter him in between.

"Mayweather’s gotta come down to 144, is it easier to come up or go down? Oscar drained himself against Pacquiao, Antonio Tarver couldn’t make it coming after Rocky. It gets tough and he has no body fat so where does it come from? It comes from muscle. When you have a lot of imponderables, you have a great fight."

He knows he is looking to restore the reputation of a fighting nation that has given birth to the likes of Salvador Sanchez, Ricardo Lopez, Carlos Zarate, Julio Cesar Chavez and more recently, Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera.

“It’s a great responsibility for me, because Mexican people love boxing and they will all be watching this fight,” he told skysports.com.

“They are very excited, so it’s a great opportunity for me and for all the Mexicans - around the world - supporting me. And all the people watching me.”

It is a thought that does not faze the 35-year-old three-weight world champion in the slightest.

The most avoided boxer in the world, Paul Williams, looks to have left the welterweight division for good. Unable to secure paydays at 147, Williams is not campaigning at 154 and 160. The only other currently rated top 10 welterweights in the world by Ring Magazine are Isaac Hlatsway from South Africa and Vyacheslav Senchenko from the Ukraine. Those guys maybe talented fighters, but they wouldn’t exactly be big paydays for Mosley and neither of them actually deserve a title shot at this point in their careers.

So Shane Mosley will just have to wait and see what happens. Hopefully, things will just sort themselves out soon, because one of the best welterweights in the world and arguably the top dog at 147 should not be left out in the cold in what appears to be the deepest division in the sport. Let’s hope we see Shane in a big fight again soon, because boxing is better when its best stars are in the ring.

Mosley was dismissed as a future opponent because he has “five losses” and is “not a pay-per-view attraction,” according to Mayweather.

Mayweather’s disrespect was enough to make the normally affable and reserved Mosley fire back.

“Floyd’s delusional,” Mosley said from his home in La Verne, California on Friday. “He talks about his pay-per-view numbers but everyone knows that it was Ricky (Hatton) and Oscar (De La Hoya) who brought in the fans and sold those pay-per-view buys. Before he fought De La Hoya his numbers were so disappointing HBO didn’t want him to fight on pay-per-view anymore.

“The fights with Oscar and Ricky, and the 24/7’s he did on HBO before those fights, got his name out there but I don’t think it made him more popular with boxing fans. I don’t think he’ll ever be as popular as he thinks he is until he really fights the best.”

Early in his career, when he campaigned in the 130- and 135-pound divisions, Mayweather did fight the best. He beat the likes of Genaro Hernandez, Diego Corrales, Jesus Chavez, and Jose Luis Castillo displaying once-in-a-lifetime talent and athletic gifts that were on par with Mosley’s abilities at lightweight.

Somewhere during his transition from lightweight to junior welterweight and welterweight in the middle part of the decade, Mayweather’s focus shifted from proving his potential greatness to protecting his undefeated record and making as much money as possible.

It can be argued that it worked out for him, as he made a small fortune fighting Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton in 2007, but it’s a damn shame.

Imagine the welterweight round robin that could have taken place over the last four years if Mayweather shared Mosley’s mettle.

“I respect him in the fight game, but I’ve never been beat,” he added in a clear reference to the three defeats on Pacquiao’s record.

“Nobody has the antidote for Floyd Mayweather.”

Meanwhile Marquez, the lightweight champion, said he expected ‘Pretty Boy’ to be back to his prime for the catch weight clash.

“I’m expecting the best Floyd Mayweather ever,” Marquez told a New York press conference.

Besides having television’s best theme music and perfect narration from Liev Schreiber (I could listen to him read the phone book), on no other show could you possibly see these priceless moments portrayed in such entertaining fashion — and have them relate to a huge upcoming fight: Oscar De La Hoya passing gas, Floyd Mayweather Sr. making Kool-Aid and eating a taco in his car while driving, Ricky Hatton showing off his butt in a thong, Freddie Roach getting a haircut, Enzo Calzaghe borrowing a New York street musician’s guitar and playing for him, Roy Jones Jr. emotionally watching the election night announcement in Times Square that Barack Obama had won the presidency, rap star 50 Cent riding a Segway through Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s mansion, and Roger Mayweather shopping for Thanksgiving groceries.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. goes toe-to-toe with his old friend Brian Kenny

For the latest Philippine news stories and videos, visit GMANews.TV“

For the latest Philippine news stories and videos, visit GMANews.TV“

He said: “I haven’t watched the fight yet. I don’t know whether I will watch it. It has been embarrassing for me.

“What I vaguely remember is that no sooner had the bell rang when I went down, then again. I felt I was doing well in the second round and he nailed me again.

“It has been difficult to take for me. It is just embarrassing really.

“I know he is not that much better than me.

“Before I could get warmed up he nailed me. I felt I hurt him in the second round, but no sooner had I hurt him than he nailed me again.

The following May he attracted a whopping crowd of 55,000 to Manchester City’s Eastlands Stadium to see him bounce back with a unanimous points decision over Juan Lazcano.

But Hatton is still coming to terms with the fact that he lost badly again in Vegas, saying: “I’m still devastated about it and spending time with my family is my priority now, so I can’t say what I am going on to do.

“Whatever I decide to do - and I am not saying I am the best British fi ghter by any means - I don’t think any British fighter has had a following like me. There was about 25,000 in Vegas this time. Incredible support.

“Before this fight and the Mayweather fi ght, I am told the record was about 10,000. It doesn’t even come close. It is incredible stuff.