"Nothing else matters right now" - Shane Mosley relishing an upset over Pacquiao

Earlier today former five-time champion 'Sugar' Shane Mosley participated in an international media conference call in advance of his May 7th clash against WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao. Fighting inside of the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Mosley is heading into the bout a huge underdog yet has kept a reserved confidence about him during the lead up to the fight.

Fielding various questions from the assembled media who took their time to call in, Mosley was far from outspoken yet still candid about his chances in the fight, his poor performances in his recent outings, and his true feelings towards Pacquiao's ability as a fighter.

Mosley was questioned as to whether he felt it was necessary for him to start early and find a way to hurt Pacquiao in the opening rounds for a shot at victory but he refuted such thoughts.

"I don't buy into that. A lot of my fights I have knockouts where I have knocked people out late," Mosley opened up.

The Pomona, California fighter also shed light on to why he consistently finds himself in these type of high-profile super fights despite suffering six losses throughout his eighteen-year career.

"People know that they are getting an exciting fight," said Mosley. "If they can get past the power than they can maybe win the fight. This fight is very risky for Manny Pacquiao. Anything can happen."

Someone then asked Shane if he had the speed to deal with Pacquiao, whose fists are still blazing as he moves into the twilight of his career. Shane's counter was definitely effective, as he pointed to the results of Pacquiao's most recent fight, a twelve-round thrashing over Antonio Margarito last November at Cowboys Stadium.

"I look at the Margarito fight and I noticed that Margarito landed the most punches ever on Manny Pacquiao," Shane revealed. "If Margarito is fast enough to land punches on Manny Pacquiao then I know I am fast enough to land punches."

In May of last year Mosley rocked Floyd Mayweather Jr. in the second round of their match but was thoroughly dominated for each stanza afterwards, losing a lopsided decision. Four months later he squared off with former champion Sergio Mora in Los Angeles and had to settle for a majority draw in a fight that was boringly dreadful to watch.

Those two performances have had people screaming that the 39-year old is shot but Mosley points out that without his lackluster efforts against Mayweather and Mora than he might not have found himself where he is today.

"If it wasn't for those two fights I probably wouldn't be here fighting Manny Pacquiao today. So those two fights were needed," Mosley said sharply.

Adding to that, 'Sugar' noted that the underdog role he finds himself in now is of no concern to him.

"It gives me a lot of motivation, to overcome what people are saying," Mosley said. "I don't really care if I am an underdog or not. What matters is what happens in the ring. Nothing else matters right now."

Of course, defying the odds is something that Shane is all too accustomed to, as he has often produced some of his best stuff when his back was to the wall. Tijuana's Margarito was a clear favorite to upend Shane in January of 2009 and Mosley vividly recalls the detractors coming out to play before their fight, which ended with Shane seizing a 9th round TKO.

"The only thing I remember back when I fought Margarito was that everyone thought I was going to get killed and all this crap they were saying," said a bemused Mosley. "It kept motivating me. There were different things going on in my life and I just went to myself and motivated myself and came out with the victory. I just felt good and I had a great training camp that time."

I asked Mosley what his impression was of Pacquiao during his fighting days at 126 and 130 pounds when he was going up against some of the great Mexican pugilists of our era and I also was curious to know how shocked he was to see the Filipino star, who debuted at 106 pounds, move up in weight later in his career while still having great success.

"I thought that he was a very good fighter, even back then," Mosley said with admiration. "He had a lot of energy. And that was a tough division with Morales, Barrera, Marquez and Pacquiao. Then he moved up several weight classes and pretty much did the same thing. It's remarkable. You can only take your hat off to him. He's one of the greats of this era."

While Mosley is quick to pay respect, he doesn't hesitate when fascinating about a victory over Pacquiao on May 7th. He didn't delve into all of the weaknesses that he sees in Pacquiao, but sure enough, he has his reasons for being confident.

"Yeah, I have a lot of advantages, I believe, over him. All I gotta do is exploit them."

Source: http://www.examiner.com/