Winky Wright Weighs In on Manny Pacquiao-Shane Mosley

Eight-division champion, Manny Pacquiao, has three opponents in common with three-division, five-time titlist, Shane Mosley, the man against whom he will defend his WBO welterweight (147 pounds) crown in a Top Rank Promotions event on May 7 at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas in an HBO pay per view televised bout.

The 32-year-old Pacquiao (52-3-2, 38 knockouts) is coming off of a Nov. 13, unanimous decision victory over ex-titlist Antonio Margarito (38-7, 27 KOs) at the Dallas Cowboys Stadium that was not only his 13th straight win with eight knockouts during that run, but which earned the Filipino super star the WBC's vacant junior middleweight (154 pounds) belt.

The 39-year-old Mosley (46-6-1, 39 KOs) has scored a January 2009, ninth-round knockout over Margarito, this, after having been unanimously decisioned in July of 2007 in his failed bid to earn the WBA welterweight crown from Miguel Cotto (35-2, 28 KOs), whom Pacquiao dethroned as WBO 147-pound king by 12th-round stoppage in November of 2009.

Pacquiao also debuted as a welterweight with a December, 2008, eighth-round knockout of Oscar De La Hoya, whom Mosley decisioned for WBC welterweight belt in June of 2000, and, yet again, in September of 2003 to add the WBC's junior middleweight title to the WBA 154-pound crown that he already owned.

But it is former world champion Winky Wright, a man who has twice beaten Mosley, who may hold the secret to defeating Pacquiao's upcoming rival.

Wright told BoxingScene.com that his consecutive wins over Mosley in March and November of 2004 were the result of using his jab, advantage in power and plenty of pressure to negate Mosley over the course of their 154-pound bouts.

"I took the speed away because he's real fast. I had to take the speed away. With that jab we took that speed away. Once we took that speed away and slowed it down, we just used our size. We were stronger than him and we stayed on him. We constantly beat him down. Beat him, beat him, beat him," said Wright, who believes that Mosley is capable of defeating Pacquiao.

"Pacquiao is destroying everybody right now. But Shane is a live fighter. Shane has speed, he has power. But the thing is, does he want it?" said Wright. "Does he have heart to go in there and fight and try to win? Because he's going to have to dig down and fight because this guy is going to be coming at him. We'll see."

Mosley's not looked good in his past two fights, May's Golden Boy Promotions, lopsided, 12-round unanimous decision loss to six-time champion Floyd Mayweather (41-0, 25 KOs), and, September's split-decision draw with ex-champion, Sergio Mora (21-1-1, six KOs) that was contested at 154 pounds.

-boxing.fanhouse.com