The key lies in the strengths and weaknesses of the pair of world class operators. Nobody could question Manny’s unique talent and historic boxing achievements. However, I fear that this is the wrong fighter for Manny to face.

Shane has good power and is naturally a strong athlete but his real strength lies in his excellent body punching. This aligns perfectly with Pacquiao’s most obvious weakness. That being his vulnerability to body attacks. In the Antonio Margarito fight we saw Manny buckle from a body punch and he has been stopped before by them.

Talk of Mosley being a spent force may be premature. I question his motivation in the Mora fight. Shane is not invincible. His performances against the late Vernon Forrest were poor but he then went onto wipe out Ricardo Mayorga who gave Forrest more trouble than he could handle. In this fight Shane is fighting someone slightly shorter than himself, this could well negate Manny’s slight advantage in speed.

This fight is being seen as a marking time fight whilst the Mayweather bout comes to fruition. This is a shame because defeat for Manny will de value and possibly de rail the fight all boxing fans want to see.

On paper Manny’s relative youth, power and speed should see him through. I am predicting a shock. Shane Mosley to win utilizing his body attack.

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