HOLLYWOOD—He better quit before he gets hurt.
That’s renowned trainer Freddie Roach’s unsolicited advice to Shane Mosley after the future Hall of Famer’s lopsided loss to Manny Pacquiao Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
“I don’t think he tried to win,” Roach said of the American ring icon. “When you get to that point in boxing, it’s time to call it a day.”
The five-time Trainer of the Year noted that Mosley, better known for his offensive arsenal, backpedaled from the outset.
“[Mosley] never took a step forward all night,” said Roach. “Even his jab was in mothballs. When fighters don’t try to win, it’s time to retire.”
At 39, Mosley surely knows that he’s no spring chicken.
Pundits say Mosley’s uncharacteristically cold performance against Pacquiao provides glimpses of how his skills have diminished.
Despite boasting that he will bring the fight to Pacquiao and knock the Filipino hero out, Mosley was totally outgunned that he backpedaled at every lunge by the fighting congressman from Sarangani.
He was in survival mode starting in the third round, when he got nailed by a left hook and fell down for only the third time in a boxing career that spans 31 years.
Mosley denied, though, that advancing years was the main culprit.
He said that Pacquiao simply the world’s finest fighter: “Undoubtedly, the best pound-for-pound.”
For the fight, Mosley earned $5 million plus millions more in his shares from pay-per-view, closed-circuit sales of the fight.