"I think that I am the best finisher that he's faced. I think that he's faced other fighters and he's proven that he can fight his way out of trouble sometimes. But I don't think that he's faced anybody who is as fast as me and who actually hits as hard as I do. I think that I'm going to knock him out. I don't know what round it's going to be in. But it will come in the first round that I catch him squarely on the chin,"
Shane Mosley on Manny Pacquiao.
BoxingScene.com spoke to three-division, five-time titlist, Shane Mosley in this Q&A from Big Bear Lakes, in Calif., where the 39-year-old is in training for his May 7 clash with eight-division titlist, Manny Pacquiao, in defense of Pacquiao's WBO welterweight belt.
Mosley (46-6-1, 39 knockouts) is feeling confident heading into his clash with the southpaw, 32-year-old Pacquiao (52-3-2, 38 KOs), having spent nearly six weeks preparing for a battle that will transpire at MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Mosley said that he will look to capitalize on Pacquiao's high punch output, among other things, and believes that he has the speed and the power to come up with a knockout.
The Pacquiao-Mosley fight is being televised on Showtime Pay Per View, whose parent company, CBS, already has debuted an episode of Fight Camp 360: Pacquiao and Mosley on regular network television.
BoxingScene.com: What was your opinion of Fight Camp 360?
Shane Mosley: You know what, quite honestly I didn't see all of it because I had to leave and had an appointment for some stuff that I had to do. So I didn't see it all.
But I heard that it turned out pretty good. I had heard that my son [Shane Mosley Jr.] got interviewed, so that's good. It's good that he got some television time.
I think that it's great. I love it. I love the fact that people are being able to come into the camp and see what we're going through, and that it's on national television.
BoxingScene.com: Were you stoking up some animosity during the press conference scene in Fight Camp 360 when you walked over to an understated Manny Pacquiao and essentially said, 'Manny, tell the truth, I know that you want to knock me out just like I want to knock you out?'
Shane Mosley: Well, I just know what he's thinking and that he's just not putting it out there like that. So I was just kind of, you know, telling the audience what he was really thinking.
I know that he's a competitor like me who wants to not only win, but to win in dramatic fashion. I know that he wants to try to knock me out, and that's all that I was trying to say.
BoxingScene.com: Do you feel that it's helpful or necessary to develop any sort of animosity toward an Manny Pacquiao?
Shane Mosley: No, I never go into the ring with animosity. I try to stay focused and to not go in there with any animosity. I go in there as a competitor.
That's just the way that I like to do it. I don't like to go in there hating the person.
BoxingScene.com: Were you aware that they showed you losing to your childhood best friend, Hassan Abdulrahim, in billiards on national television?
Shane Mosley: I didn't see it, but I heard about it, yeah.
BoxingScene.com: Is it true that, according to Hassan, you rarely if ever lose to him in billiards, and, if so, what do you make of the fact that you lost to him under the circumstances?
Shane Mosley: Right, I do usually win. I felt okay. It was fun. Hassan is a good friend of mine, so I don't mind losing to my friend on national television in the spotlight.
Hassan knows that I'm competitive. He's been knowing me since we were little kids, so he knows what type of person I am and how competitive I am, so that's what keeps him on his toes as well.
BoxingScene.com: Is there anyone on your records who compares favorably to Manny Pacquiao or against whom you can draw comparisons?
Shane Mosley: I'm not sure. If they were similar, then they would be world champions like Manny Pacquiao. I don't know. There are guys who are pretty good and who came out me similarly, round-by-round.
That's a good thing. I know that he's a hard worker and a hard fighter who will come in and fight as hard as he usually does.
BoxingScene.com: Do you feel any kinship or affinity to aging fighters like 42-year-old former light heavyweight champion Glen Johnson or 46-year-old former two-division titlist Bernard Hopkins?
Shane Mosley: You mean as far as age?
BoxingScene.com: Yes.
Shane Mosley: No, you know, my age, I don't think about that. At this point, you know, I don't know. I don't think about that. It's not a problem for me.
BoxingScene.com: How is training going and how many sparring partners have you worked with?
Shane Mosley: I know a few of their names, but I don't think that that's relevant. They're doing a great job emulating Manny's style.
There are probably about six different sparring partners, and they're just trying to keep up a high pace. They come at me with every round and they're trying to dictate a high, up tempo pace.
BoxingScene.com: Do you believe that Manny Pacquiao can come into the ring and use any other strategy against you other than the way that Manny Pacquiao always has fought?
Shane Mosley: I pretty expect him to fight the same style that he always has. He's a great fighter, but he's a warrior, and I don't think that you can take that out of him.
He likes to fight, and that's his style. So he's got to fight that way against me. Otherwise, I don't think that he will be as effective.
BoxingScene.com: Do you believe that backing up Manny Pacquiao is necessarily a victory, or do you believe that he could still find a way to be resourceful and dangerous against you?
Shane Mosley: It's not necessarily a victory just to back up Manny Pacquiao, because Antonio Margarito backed Manny up the whole fight. But, you know, nothing really happened. He didn't win. He lost.
But a victory, for me, would be to actually knock him out, not just going the distance with him and winning, but it would be my goal to knock him out.
I'm looking to show that I'm bigger and stronger than him and to actually win the fight, and that's what I'm looking to do. I would like to knock him out.
A decision would be satisfying, but I'm not looking to score a decision by outboxing him. I think that he might start out with the strategy of trying to outbox me for a few rounds.
But I think that eventually, he'll have to come forward and that he will try to go for the knockout, which should make the fight very exciting. And, you know, I'm feeling great in training.
I feel like I'm ready to go. I'm in tremendous shape, and I'm happy about the way that this training camp is going, and it's only going to be getting better and better. I'm happy.
BoxingScene.com: Do you believe that you are the best finisher that Manny Pacquiao has faced?
Shane Mosley: I think that I am the best finisher that he's faced, yeah. I think that he's faced other fighters and he's proven that he can fight his way out of trouble sometimes.
But I don't think that he's faced anybody who is as fast as me and who actually hits as hard as I do.
BoxingScene.com: Do you have a prediction?
Shane Mosley: Yeah, I think that I'm going to knock him out. I don't know what round it's going to be in.
But it will come in the first round that I catch him squarely on the chin.
But I believe that I'm going to win by a knockout.
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