Winner of Mosley-Berto a Better Challenge for Manny Pacquiao

Freddie Roach, the esteemed boxing guru who has guided and molded several champions and top contenders, has eyed the winner of the Shane Mosley-Andre Berto slugfest should Manny Pacquiao’s camp fail to strike a deal with Floyd Mayweather. Bob Arum, Top Rank’s big boss and Pacquiao’s promoter, has already expressed interest in having Pacquiao going north the scales to challenge WBA junior middleweight champ Yuri Foreman.

Roach, however, does not discount the possibility of a Pacquiao-Mosley or Pacquiao-Berto matchups, depending on who comes out victorious in their fight on January 30, 2010. Both fighters possess speed, power, and strength that might pose a serious challenge to the current P4P main man and holder of seven weight division titles. Of the two, Mosley comes with vast ring experience while Berto supplies himself with the youth advantage.

Mosley comes to the fight as the WBA Welterweight Super Champion with a 46-5 record, with 39 wins coming by way of knockout. On the other corner, Berto holds the WBC Welterweight championship and comes to the fight with an unblemished record of 26-0, 19 wins by way of knockout. The winner could potentially set himself up with a date with Pacquiao, whose current negotiations with Mayweather are turning bitter from sour.

A fight with either Mosley or Berto is historically significant for Pacquiao. No Asian fighter has unified and became the lineal champion of the welterweight division. As of this writing, Mosley is still the lineal champ, a title espoused to him when he dismantled Antonio Margarito a year ago.

A fight between Pacquiao and the winner of the Mosley-Berto fight will set the stage for a unification fight for three alphabet titles (WBA, WBC, and the WBO belts, the latter currently held by Pacquiao) and a fight for the lineal title in the welterweight house. A victory by either Pacquiao or the winner of the Mosley-Berto fight will dramatically clean the welterweight house with the winner rising as the best welterweight boxer of today.

In addition, if Pacquiao should take this fight and win, he will become the only fighter in boxing’s history to win five lineal (the man who beat the man) championships in five different weight categories. Pacquiao has already won lineal titles in four different weight categories – flyweight (vs. Chatchai Sasakul), featherweight (vs. Marco Antonio Barrera), super featherweight (vs. Juan Manuel Marquez) and light welterweight (vs. Ricky Hatton).

Another reason why a fght between Pacquiao and the winner of Mosley-Berto is a great match for Pacquiao is that he still needs to recuperate from that busted eardrum Cotto served him their last match. Medical and boxing experts believe that March 13 is so soon for the Filipino slugger to fight again, considering that he will be training heavily eight weeks prior to the date.

Whether it is Pacquiao-Mosley matchup or a Pacquiao-Berto showdown, both fights looks to be promising when it comes to all-out action. These three fighters prefer to dish out and go toe-to-toe against any opponent.

A fight with Yuri Foreman may also provide a historical milestone for Pacquiao should he comes out victorious. Eight world titles in eight different weight classes would certainly set the bar higher in terms of boxing achievements.

But while climbing up in weight and slugging it out with the big Belarusian slash Israeli slash Bronx native may be a herculean task to begin with for the Filipino, their styles do not have that meshing factor that would make it a good and exciting fight. Foreman is more of a safety-first boxer with a dismal knockout rate (28.5%, 8 knockouts out of 28 wins). In plain simple language, Pacquiao-Foreman will not provide fight fans with any action.

Article originally posted at 8CountNews.