Mosley: Pacquiao can fight until he’s 50

MANILA, Philippines — Former world champions Sugar Shane Mosley and Andre Berto were in newly-crowned super WBA welterweight titlist Manny Pacquiao’s locker room after Keith Thurman was dethroned at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas last weekend, both declaring the Filipino icon has a lot of fight left ahead despite his age.

Pacquiao, 40, defeated Thurman, who is 10 years younger, by a split 12-round decision. Mosley was 44 when he retired from boxing in 2016 while Berto, 35, is still active as a fighter and is due to face Miguel Cruz in Brooklyn on Aug. 3. Mosley held the IBF lightweight, WBA/WBC welterweight and WBA/WBC superwelterweight titles. Berto was a WBC/IBF welterweight beltholder.

“It was a close fight with Thurman,” said Mosley. “Manny took a lot of punches but I think he deserved to win. I’m now 47 and completely retired from boxing. Manny can continue fighting until he’s 50 if he wants to. If you ask me, maybe it’s time for Manny to consider retiring. He’s achieved so much in boxing. You don’t want him hurt late in his career.”

Mosley said he’s not sure if Floyd Mayweather Jr. will come out of retirement to fight Pacquiao in a rematch. “What’s sure is if Manny fought Mayweather instead of Thurman that night, he would’ve won,” he said. “I actually think Manny won the first fight against Mayweather.”

Mosley is an authority on how Pacquiao and Mayweather fight because he’s fought them both and lost. In 2010, Mosley was outpointed by Mayweather but never went down. A year later, Mosley was floored by Pacquiao in the third round, got up and lost in a near shutout as one judge saw it 120-107, another 120-108 and a third, 119-108. Mosley retired with a 49-10-1 record, including 41 KOs. Twice, he beat Oscar de la Hoya in 2000 and 2003.

Berto dropped in on Pacquiao in the locker room to congratulate him. “I’m 35 and I wish I could fight like Manny when I’m 40,” he said. “I’m not done fighting. I train in Oakland but I thought of going to Vegas to watch Manny. I bumped into Thurman a couple of weeks before the fight and I knew it was going to be a tough one.”

As for Mayweather, Berto said it’s not easy to fight him. He lost to Mayweather in 2015. “What Mayweather does well is to control the tempo,” said Berto, the son of Haitian immigrants. “He slows down the pace and you’re wondering what he’s up to. To beat him, you need to take him out of his game and pressure him.” 

Berto’s record is 32-5, with 24 KOs. He’s coming off a split 12-round decision over DeVon Alexander in a fight where he survived a knockdown. The 2004 Olympian scored a sixth round knockout over Josesito Lopez in 2015. Thurman barely beat Lopez on a majority decision last January. Berto’s worst setback was in 2107 when he was decked thrice in bowing to Shawn Porter, now the WBC welterweight champion, on a ninth round stoppage.