Barrera called it right
LAS VEGAS – Mexican legend Marco Antonio Barrera knew it all along – that Sugar Shane Mosley would go the full route but lose a decision by a wide margin to WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao in their 12-round bout at the MGM Grand Garden Arena here Saturday night (yesterday morning, Manila).
Before the fight started, Barrera predicted the outcome. He was on the broadcasting panel covering the bout for Mexican TV with anchor Carlos Aguilar, former WBC secretary-general Eduardo Lamazon and another Mexican legend Julio Cesar Chavez.
“I think Mosley is too shifty,” said Barrera. “He’s hard to hit and he’s bigger than Pacquiao. I think Manny will win by a unanimous decision. It won’t be close.”
Lamazon, an Argentinian who lives in Mexico City, agreed with Barrera.
“In Mexico, the fight was seen by 45 million people on free TV,” said Lamazon. “No pay per view. And I can assure you that all 45 million people cheered for Manny. Mexico loves Manny.”
Lamazon said he visits his home country twice a year and continues to operate a successful Argentinian restaurant in Mexico City.
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Barrera was surprised when told that Floyd Mayweather, Jr. is rumored to be considering a tune-up fight against him before facing Pacquiao.
“I don’t think so,” said Barrera. “I’m fighting in the lightweight division now – that’s 135 pounds. Mayweather is too big for me now. Maybe, he’s considering Erik Morales, not me.”
Barrera, 37, has lost three of his past seven fights but is coming off a second round knockout over Jose Arias in Guadalajara last February. The losses were to Juan Manuel Marquez, Pacquiao and Amir Khan.
It was speculated that Mayweather will choose a tune-up opponent, possibly a Mexican legend and Pacquiao victim, in preparing for his ultimate showdown with the Filipino.
The odds for Pacquiao to win by decision over Mosley were 6 to 5, meaning a $5 wager had a $6 payoff.
Nobody in Pacquiao’s camp guessed it would go the distance. Not even Pacquiao although in the end, he confessed to easing up on Mosley because “he’s a nice guy.”
Has Pacquiao lost his killer’s instinct? Last November, he let Antonio Margarito off the hook and didn’t go for a knockout even as the Mexican was ready to go in the 12th round. Pacquiao even asked Margarito, bloodied and battered, if he was okay before the last stanza. After the fight, Pacquiao said boxing isn’t about killing. He meant fighters shouldn’t bludgeon a beaten opponent. “It’s just a sport,” he said.
Pacquiao probably could’ve finished off Mosley. Perhaps, if he had no pain in his left calf muscle. Or if there was some animosity between the fighters. Pacquiao is too much of a gentleman and a sportsman to put a faded warrior away.
Mosley wanted to finish the fight on his feet, not on his back. And he did it, with a little help from Pacquiao.
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