Larry Merchant: Manny Pacquiao 'Could Lose' to Shane Mosley

Filed under: WBA, WBC, WBO, Boxing Rumors, HBO, Showtime, FanHouse Exclusive

PONTIAC, MICH. -- HBO's Larry Merchant believes eight-division king Manny Pacquiao "could lose" to three-division, five-time titlist, Shane Mosley, on May 7, in defense of his WBO welterweight (147 pounds) belt at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas.

Also the WBC's junior middleweight (154 pounds) champion, the 32-year-old Pacquiao (52-3-2, 38 knockouts) is riding a 13-bout winning streak that includes eight stoppages into the Showtime, pay per view televised clash with the 39-year-old Mosley (46-6-1, 39 KOs), whom Merchant calls, "a dangerous guy."

"If Mosley can get in shape to fight for 12 rounds, I'm saying that Shane Mosley could beat Manny Pacquiao," said Merchant. "But I'm not saying that he will."

FanHouse spoke to Merchant at the Pontiac Silverdome, in Pontiac, Mich., during Friday's weigh-in for Saturday night's HBO televised junior welterweight (140 pounds) title bout, which resulted in WBO king Tim Bradley (27-0, 11 KOs) dethroning southpaw Devon Alexander (21-1, 13 KOs) by 10th-round, technical decision.

Merchant also said that the 27-year-old Bradley, if not the 23-year-old Alexander, could pose a threat to Pacquiao should Pacquiao elect to face either of them.

"Down the road, sure, I think that it's possible that young, smaller junior welterweights who are quicker guys would be more trouble-some to him than the bigger, slower guys. I think that he should look at one of those guys," said Merchant.

"But I don't think that either of them should be fighting him in 2011. I want to see the winner and the loser keep going and to make their case by the way that they fight," said Merchant. "I don't think that they're ready for Pacquiao yet, but, you know, Pacquiao could lose to Mosley."

 

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Source: http://boxing.fanhouse.com/2011/01/31/larry-merchant-manny-pacquiao-could-lose-to-shane-mosley/

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