Fight simul picks Manny by KO
HOLLYWOOD—Even the computer overwhelmingly favors Manny Pacquiao to win over Shane Mosley.
If the ESPN virtual fight simulation, posted on the Web Friday, turns out to be accurate, Pacquiao will not only dominate Mosley but will deal the American his first career knockout defeat.
They tangle for the World Boxing Organization welterweight crown on May 7 at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas.
FILIPINO trainer Buboy Fernandez massages Pacquiao’s leg. Roy Luarca
In the video series “Pacquiao vs The Pound-for-Pound Best,” produced by EA Sport’s Fight, a present-day Pacquiao is pitted against certified boxing greats Roberto Duran, Sugar Ray Robinson and Bernard Hopkins, plus Mosley during their prime.
The bettors’ choice by a big 6-1 odds, Pacquiao is shown in the simulation downing Mosley five times before finally knocking him out. The “knockout” is Mosley’s first in a 31-year boxing career that has seen him clinch five titles in three weight classes.
In the end, a “groggy” Mosley is shown being dragged to his corner.
The other simulated fights sees Pacquiao knock out a 29-year-old Duran at 135 pounds and draw with a 46-year-old Hopkins at 147.
A 29-year-old Robinson, at 160 lb, knocks out Pacquiao, though.
Meanwhile, the latest odds in Las Vegas has put Pacquiao at minus-900 and Mosley at plus-600. This means a $900 bet on Pacquiao will win a mere $100 while a $100 bet on Mosley will earn $600.
Though more boxing pundits are picking Pacquiao to keep his unbeaten run since 2005, many of them are not predicting a knockout victory because of Mosley’s supposedly granite-strong chin.
Mosley, apparently growing in confidence as the fight nears, earlier said that Pacquiao will go down during the fight.
The 39-year-old Mosley also disputed the notion that he will be hard-pressed to carry on fighting if he does not stop Pacquiao in the early rounds.
“I’ve knocked people out early and I’ve knocked people out late, so I don’t buy into that,” Mosley told BoxingScene.com Monday.
The taller, heftier Mosley said he is using the 2009 Margarito fight—in which he stopped the Mexican in the ninth round—as his blueprint for success against Pacquiao.
The key, according to Mosley, is to land a lot of punches and prevent Pacquiao from throwing his usual volume of blows by getting the Filipino out of his comfort zone.
