Pacquiao easily beats Mosley to retain WBO title

LAS VEGAS, (Reuters) – Manny Pacquiao of the  Philippines retained his WBO welterweight title by recording a  unanimous points victory over a lacklustre Shane Mosley at the  MGM Garden Arena on Saturday.

The 32-year-old southpaw, despite being hampered by cramp in  his left leg, dominated all 12 rounds against his defence-minded  American opponent to improve his career record to 53-3-2 with 38  knockouts.

It was Pacquiao’s 14th consecutive win since his loss to  Erik Morales in Las Vegas in March 2005, and enhanced his status  as the world’s best pound-for-pound boxer.

Manny Pacquiao on the attack Saturday night in his fight against Shane Mosley. (Fightnews photo)

Fighting for the second time since winning a seat in his  country’s national congress last year, Pacquiao gained one-sided  verdicts from all three judges — 119-108, 120-108 and 120-107.

“It wasn’t my best performance but I did my best,” Pacquiao  said ringside in front of a sellout crowd of 16,412. “My leg  tightened up in the middle rounds and I couldn’t move.

“This is the same problem I had when I fought (Juan Manuel)  Marquez so we are going to have to work on this.” Pacquiao sent Mosley crashing to the canvas in the third  round with a searing straight left but, despite pressing for the  rest of the fight, he was unable to stop an opponent seemingly  more interested in survival.

“I got him with a lucky shot,” Pacquiao said of the  knockdown. “Mosley is not slow. He is fast. He was waiting for  me to make a mistake and he wanted to counter. I was careful  with that.

“I think he felt my power. But what am I going to do if my  opponent doesn’t want to fight toe-to-toe.”

“Sugar” Shane Mosley, an 8-1 underdog against the 10-times  world champion, slipped to 46-7-1 with 39 knockouts and was  booed for much of the bout because of his defensive approach.
“Manny is an exceptional fighter with good speed and power,  power that I didn’t get hit with before,” the 39-year-old  American said. “It was a strong knockdown punch. I really felt  it. I was pretty stunned, surprisingly stunned.

“It didn’t seem like a big shot to me when he threw it but  the impact was very strong. I fought my best but I came up a  little short. We will go back to the drawing board.”

BOXING
INTELLIGENCE

Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach, who has long admired  three-division world champion Mosley for his boxing  intelligence, felt the American should now consider retiring  from competition.

“I don’t think he tried to win this fight,” Roach told  reporters. “I think he just tried to survive and when you get to  that point in boxing, it’s time to call it a day.”

Loud chants of “Manny, Manny, Manny” rang out in the Garden  Arena before the two fighters made their way to the ring.

Mosley came out first, led by American rapper and actor LL  Cool J, before Pacquiao followed with Jimi Jamison of U.S. rock  band Survivor singing the group’s 1982 hit “Eye of the Tiger.”

Round one began with both fighters probing. Pacquiao  connected early on with a left jab before Mosley landed a solid  right-hand punch to the body.

With the crowd again chanting “Manny, Manny, Manny” Pacquiao  began to find a rhythm and he landed several telling  combinations before ending the second round with a right hook  followed by a straight left.

In round three, Mosley connected with another solid right  before the Filipino sent the American crashing to the canvas  with a crunching straight left set up by a right jab, only the  third time Mosley had ever been knocked down.

The rest of the fight followed a similar pattern with  Pacquiao, despite his cramped left leg, continually forcing  Mosley to retreat as the American focused mainly on defence and  survival.

In the 10th round, the Filipino was surprisingly adjudged to  have been knocked down after being pushed to the canvas by  Mosley.

Fired up, Pacquiao ended that round in aggressive mode,  hitting Mosley late on with a withering left.

With the crowd repeatedly chanting “Knock him out, knock him  out”, Pacquiao kept coming forward in the final two rounds but  was unable to finish his opponent off.