By Alex P. Vidal/ PNS
LAS VEGAS, Nevada – At 39, Shane Mosley is past his prime and is not anymore as quick as when he was world welterweight champion 10 years ago.
This was the assessment made recently by Freddie Dawson, a veteran boxing analyst and neighbor of Floyd Mayweather Jr. (41-0, 25 KO’s) in Southern Highlands, here.
Dawson, 62, said he wasn’t excited to hear that Mosley, who beat 1992 Barcelona Olympics golden boy Oscar De La Hoya (39-6, 30 KO’s) twice in as many confrontations during his prime, will fight Manny Pacquiao on May 7 at the MGM Grand.
“Mosley is old and he won’t last the distance with Pacquiao,” said Dawson, who predicted the 32-year-old eight-time world champion Filipino to demolish the black American speedster in five to six rounds. “He doesn’t have the stamina that he used to have.”
Dawson, a registered nurse and retired army, said Pacquiao’s advantage is he is quicker and younger. Mosley (46-6, 39 KO’s), he said, can’t take the Filipino’s strong punch as “he has never fought anyone that has put a lot of pressure on him.”
VERNON FORREST
Dawson cited Mosley’s two back to back losses to the late Vernon Forrest in 2002 where Mosley got buried from Forrest’s avalanche of punches on several occasions and was nearly counted out if not for his footwork, en route to losing a decision on January 26, 2002.
In their rematch on July 20, 2002, Dawson observed that Mosley “obviously didn’t fight toe-to-toe with Forrest for fear of being knocked out.”
Forrest (41-3, 39 KO’s) had been pulverized by heavy hitting Hispanic Ricardo Mayorga (29-7, 23 KO’s) and was shot dead in a robbery in Atlanta on July 25, 2009.
But Dawson credited Mosley for nearly stopping Mayweather in the second round in their title fight on May 1, 2010. “Mosley, of course, could still punch hard as manifested by his brutal annihilation of Antonio Margarito and his near upset knockout win over Mayweather,” Dawson pointed out.
Mayweather recovered from the second round ambuscade and outslicked Mosley for a 12-round unanimous decision win.
Dawson cautioned Mosley from fighting toe-to-toe with Pacquiao (52-3-2, 38 KO’s) saying his best chance to beat the best boxer pound-for-pound is to “stay away from Pacquiao and avoid his left.”
BEST WEAPON
Dawson believed that Pacquiao’s best weapon is his left straight although the hard-hitting lefty, who was elected congressman in the Philippines before beating Margarito in Arlington, Texas last Nov. 13, 2010, has developed his right punch and is now believed to be equally destructive.
Dawson said Top Rank needed to tap Mosley to fight Pacquiao because Mosley has a large follower in California and Las Vegas “and this means a lot of money.”
In agreeing to fight Pacquiao, Mosley believed to have severed his ties with his former promoter, Golden Boy Promotion.
Top Rank CEO Bob Arum considers the Pacquiao-Mosley fisticuffs as “boxing’s version of the Super Bowl.”
Dawson also predicted that the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight will push through.
“I think Mayweather is only waiting for Pacquiao to get older and slower because he knows that, by that time, he can beat Pacquiao,” he stressed. “If Mayweather will fight Pacquiao today, Pacquiao will knock him out in the third round.”
“Every great fighter has trouble with another fighter,” Dawson explained. “Muhammad Ali always had trouble with Jose Frazer. Pacquiao will always have trouble with (Juan Manuel) Marquez. Mayweather will have trouble with Pacquiao.”
GREATEST FIGHTERS
Dawson worked in the emergency room of the West Anaheim Medical Center in Anaheim, California for 15 years and has watched and analyzed with his late father, Luther, the epic heavyweight title clashes between American Floyd Patterson and Sweden’s Ingemar Johansson as well as the bloody wars of Jersey Joe Walcott and Dick Tiger, among other prominent pugilists in the 50’s and 60’s.
He rates Muhammad Ali as the greatest fighter of all time followed by Joe Louis and Sugar Ray Leonard. “Pacquiao would be no. 3 or 4,” Dawson gushed.
Meanwhile, Mosley has expressed confidence of beating Pacquiao. In a recent press conference to kick off the promotional tour in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and New York, the three-time world champion gushed: “I think it’s very hard but styles make the fight. Being that he’s a very exciting fighter and likes to bring it, that leaves openings for me. We’ll see when we get to the fight. It’s not the African-American style that will beat him. It’s my style that will beat him. Everybody fights differently and styles make the fight and in this fight you have two guys engaging and I think I have what it takes to get the job done.
“I don’t know what the odds are for this fight. I’m not a betting man. I definitely won’t be on the losing end. I think it should be even. We are two similar types of fighters. We both like to battle. He throws punches more rapidly than I do but my punches are heavier. I don’t know what the over-under is. It won’t go the distance. This is the type of fight that would never go the distance.”