By Robert Morales
The Oscar De La Hoya Sweepstakes are over. The Manny Pacquiao Sweepstakes are off and running.
Fighters would do and say just about anything to get De La Hoya in the ring because they knew a fight with him would bring their biggest payday.
De La Hoya has retired and …

“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.

“When I was growing up I used to admire Oscar de la Hoya, he was my hero,” Pacquiao explained.

“I also used to like Roy Jones Jnr and Julio Cesar Chavez but Oscar was my number one.

“I was very honoured to actually fight him, that was a real high point for me because of the amount of respect I had for him.”

Although Hatton had built a reputation as a hurtful puncher, Pacquiao said the now-retired “Golden Boy” possessed the edge in power.

“Hatton was strong but he wasn’t like de la Hoya because Oscar was very heavy-handed,” he said.

“Anyway, at this level when anyone hits you it hurts!”

His easy-going demeanour can make you forget that he is one of the most dangerous unarmed men on the planet. Pacquiao doesn’t talk big but his record speaks for itself.

The Asian superstar believes a big part of his continuing success is down to the input of trainer Freddie Roach at the Wild Card gym in Los Angeles.

“Freddie has helped me a lot,” he explained.

“He has shown me a lot of new things and helped me to develop. He is a great trainer and I think he is the best in the world.”

Is Edwin Valero a contender? That is definitely a yes. Beating Pitalua proved that , but the elite of the division could shatter his dreams. Him and his fans are calling out Pacquiao. This is probably a call he wants to hang up on before it goes through. One reason this fight wont happen is because Valero is not a name here in America. He has just been cleared to fight in certain states following a head injury several years ago. That means he can’t fill Manny’s wallet the way some other boxers can. The second reason is that Valero is just not ready for Pacquiao right now. Until he improves his defense Valero would be an easy target. His fans would say that he could go toe to toe with Manny , that would be an easy fight to call…Pacquiao winning by ko in 1.

As of now Edwin Valero is definitely a contender for a lightweight belt , but until he fights more of the big names he will be considered a pretender to the pound for pound throne.

By Thomas Hauser
Don’t get carried away by the title of this article. It would be a stretch to liken Bob Arum to Gary Cooper in High Noon. But in recent weeks, there has been talk of a new economic model in boxing. And Arum, in tandem with Todd DuBoef (his …