Trash Talking Starts Early as Pacquiao vs. Mosley Fight Approaches

"If Mosley can get in shape to fight for 12 rounds, I'm saying that Shane Mosley could beat Manny Pacquiao…” Larry Merchant

The fight between eight-division champion boxer Manny Pacquiao and former five-time champion Shane Mosley isn’t scheduled until May 7. But according to reports, the trash talking from both sides has already begun.

AOLNews.com reports that Pacquiao’s legendary trainer, Freddie Roach, recently suggested that his fighter would be the first to knock out 39-year-old Mosley in his long, decorated career (46-6-1 overall record).

"Shane is a tough guy. He has a good chin and he's dangerous," Roach told AOLNews.com. "He is faster than [Antonio] Margarito, and he's a much better boxer. But I don't think he's going to last the distance. I think my guy will knock him out."

But Mosley isn’t surprised by Roach’s claims. He knew there would be criticism when he first agreed to the fight back in December 2010.

"I know that they think I'm an old man and that Manny is going to beat me. Let them think that," Mosley told ESPN.com. "I still have power and speed. They thought I was done before I knocked out [Antonio] Margarito, too. So they can think whatever they want. I know what I can do."

Famous boxing commentator Larry Merchant agreed with Mosley, suggesting that he could be a very dangerous opponent for Pacquiao (52-3-2 overall record).

"If Mosley can get in shape to fight for 12 rounds, I'm saying that Shane Mosley could beat Manny Pacquiao. But I'm not saying that he will,” Merchant told AOLNews.com. “A Mosley at 75 percent has way more offensive skills than somebody like Antonio Margarito or the previous guy Pacquiao fought, Joshua Clottey. That, to me, means that he's a dangerous guy.”

Pacquiao has knocked out several opponents who were larger than him, so a bigger Mosley doesn’t scare him. But one attribute Mosley possesses that Pacquiao’s former opponents didn’t is speed.

“I'm a bigger guy than [Pacquiao] and he gets hit. And you saw how I hurt Floyd [Mayweather],” said Mosley mentioning the bruising hook he landed on Mayweather during their fight last year. “Manny is going to come forward and I will hit him on the chin at some point. His defense is not like Floyd's. Manny will come at me, and I will knock him out."

Source: http://www.afro.com/