Fire Quinito rounds up all the links you need to read for tomorrow's big match between Manny Pacquiao and Shane Mosley, so you can concentrate on your Mother's Day shopping.



Kevin Iole, Yahoo! Sports: “There was a time not that long ago that those in Manny Pacquiao’s camp had legitimate reason to be worried before his major fights. He didn’t have a right hand to speak of and he only fought moving in one direction. He was so aggressive on offense that he was deficient defensively. There wasn’t a lot of nuance to his game. One by one, Pacquiao has erased those flaws and turned himself into the best fighting machine the sport has seen since ‘Sugar’ Ray Leonard more than a quarter of a century ago.”

Doug Fischer, RingTV: “Although Pacquiao began his career as a slugger who relied on his awesome speed and power and Mosley was viewed as a technically sound boxer-puncher (or ‘power boxer,’ as his former trainer and father called him), the Filipino icon has continually improved his skill and versatility over the past six years. Mosley‘s technique, on the other hand, appeared to plateau with his move from lightweight to welterweight. Despite the fact that he no longer had the size advantage he held over lightweights, Mosley began to rely more on his physical strength and punching power when he campaigned at welterweight and junior middleweight (probably due in part to the early success he had knocking out second-tier contenders at 147 pounds).”

Scott Christ, Bad Left Hook: “The only shot that Sugar Shane has in this fight is pure power, and he'll have to hope that Manny Pacquiao is going to leave himself open to a dangerous degree. Shane Mosley is one of my all-time favorite fighters, but the Shane Mosley who fights today is not the same Shane Mosley who fed my developing boxing junkiedom way back when. He's now a 39-year-old fighter who has issues pulling the trigger. But if he lands a bomb, this fight could stun the sports world.”

Lem Satterfield, Boxing Scene: “Don’t get Manny Pacquiao angry. You would not like him when he’s angry. So don’t say something that's going to tick him off prior to a fight, especially if you are the eight-division champion's upcoming opponent. According to Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach, that sort of thing might just earn you a butt-kicking. ‘Trash talking. Manny just doesn’t like that. He’s never done that. If there is any trash talking, then it’s by me,’ said Roach, a five-time Trainer of The Year.”

Lance Pugmire, Los Angeles Times: “Last May, Mosley, now 39, nearly knocked down unbeaten Floyd Mayweather Jr. when Mayweather ventured inside and got clocked with some wicked Mosley rights in the second round. ‘At this age, can Mosley still move for 12 rounds?’ Roach said Wednesday as the fighters met with reporters at their final news conference before the pay-per-view bout that's a sellout at MGM Grand Garden Arena. ‘With a fast pace, Mosley’s legs will go. It’s going to take eight or nine rounds.’ That’s what happened against Mayweather, when Mosley grew fatigued and was defeated in a lopsided decision. He has never been knocked out.”

Carlos Acevedo, The Cruelest Sport: “It will be a miracle if Mosley, 46-6-1 (39), can avoid the same destiny most shopworn ex-champions suffer, and his last performance, a draw against Sergio Mora, makes it seem even unlikelier. Mosley looked like he crawled out of an opium den just before the opening bell against Mora, and he spent 12 desultory rounds trying to work his limbs through some sort of low-grade fever. But Mosley was aggressive, made the fight—such as it was or was not—and appeared to earn the ‘W.’ To make things worse, Mora would go on to lose a decision to a rudimentary clubfighter, Brian Vera, in his next bout.”

Tim Starks, The Queensberry Rules: “Pacquiao is 32 and by all measures still in his peak physically. He also has taken a ton of punishment in the ring, but he has not shown himself to be any worse for the wear because of it. Trainer Freddie Roach, who errs on the side of caution with his fighters due to his own ring career leading to his current Parkinson’s, said Pacquiao has shown no signs of slowing down. And Pacquiao's stamina is one of the freakiest elements of his game that still is serially underestimated as a vital component of what makes him what he is.”

Bryan Armen Graham, Sports Illustrated: “Pacquiao’s blinding hand speed has proved difficult for opponents in any division, but it’s the foot speed that enables the southpaw to create impossible punching angles while seamlessly transitioning to defense. (Said Cotto: ‘I didn’t see where the punches were coming from.’) While his right hand was once merely a table-setter for the crushing left, Pacquiao has evolved into essentially an ambidextrous puncher whose oppressive punch volume keeps opponents on their heels.”

Gareth Davies, The Telegraph: “‘I think the misperception is that Manny Pacquiao is a little guy,’ Mosley said. ‘In actuality, he fights at welterweight, he makes his weight and he carries all his weight in his legs. I believe at this point he’s a full-fledged welterweight. He’s done things to build himself up into a welterweight.’ Nor does his trainer, Naazim Richardson, buy the theory. ‘He’s a full-fledged welterweight. Calling him a small welterweight is like calling David Tua or Mike Tyson a small heavyweight. They’re confusing being small with being short. A fire hydrant is short, but it’s strong as hell. Manny has almost bamboozled the world with this. ‘He’s only 2 inches tall and weighs 32 ounces.’ He says it to you a million times: ‘He’s bigger than me, he’s bigger than me,’ and everyone starts to bite on it.’’”

Gordon Marina, Wall Street Journal: “Other differences that make Pacquiao stand out are the intensity and tempo at which he trains and fights, and his ability to ignore pain. Most boxers are constantly trying to decide when to expend energy and when to take a round off. Pacquiao likes to know that he has enough training in the bank to allow him to bring the most intense heat possible and to punch almost continuously. In his past two title defenses, Pacquiao has averaged a startling 96 punches per round. Against Antonio Margarito, he let fly 1,069 blows and connected with 474 punches, the eighth-highest total ever recorded in a championship bout by Compubox, a statistics service. ‘Sure, Manny is fast and hits hard, but the thing that is special with him is his intensity,’ says sparring partner Shawn Porter. ‘It is electric in there. He is always pushing the pace.’”

Dan Rafael, ESPN: “Richardson has taken to comparing Pacquiao to Hall of Famer Aaron Pryor, a former junior welterweight champion known for his exciting fights. ‘The reason I compare the two is that Aaron Pryor was an all-action fighter. He had a decent punch, but he was all-action,’ Richardson said. ‘You could just see his energy level was just extraordinary. And Pacquiao brings the same level of energy into the ring. And it's difficult to answer because he's so consistent.’”

Arash Markazi, ESPN: “On the surface, the two men who will stand in opposing corners for Manny Pacquiao and Shane Mosley on Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena have little in common. Roach is white, diminutive and unimposing. He walks around the casino wearing a red and blue T-shirt and shorts. He is constantly adjusting his glasses. His hair is a disheveled mess. If you hadn't seen him during his days as a boxer in the 1980s you wouldn't know he was one of the toughest lightweight fighters. Richardson is black, hefty and daunting. He attracts the attention of everyone as he walks past a food court wearing all black. He has a full gray beard, knitted skull cap and an intimidating glare. The devout Muslim is greeted by a few passers-by with ‘As-Salamu Alaykum,’ an Arabic greeting meaning ‘Peace be upon you.’ In a sport where trainers are just as competitive and protective of their territory as boxers and promoters, the two men share a mutual respect for each another. Not only have they reached the pinnacle of their profession, but they both had to teach themselves how to do the simplest of tasks before they could ever teach their fighters the intricacies of a sport that has continually caused them as much pain as joy during their lives.”

Ron Borges, Ring TV: “Mosley went to Arum with his manager and advisor, James Prince, and convinced Arum he was a promotional free agent. Soon after Arum seemed to change his tune about Mosley’s fitness as an opponent for Pacquiao and now is saying he was the best choice because of his name recognition, long success in the sport and clean-cut reputation.”

Greg Bishop, New York Times: “At its disorganized, fragmented peak, Manny Pacquiao’s endorsement strategy was being handled by anywhere between 30 and 50 friends who claimed to represent him and made hundreds of cold calls, often to the same company. They brokered potential deals for everything, including sexual-enhancement drugs and poker chips, as if playing a giant game of marketing darts. As Pacquiao ascended to boxing royalty, as his earning power ballooned beyond even his greatest expectations, this lack of a strategy came with real consequences. Pacquiao lost a potential Gatorade endorsement, lost an appearance on an EA Sports video game cover, lost, by conservative estimates, a few million dollars in recent years alone. Now, Top Rank Boxing, the company that promotes Pacquiao, has taken the unusual step of hiring an expert to consolidate his marketing affairs. Top Rank has little experience in handling the endorsements of its boxers. Lucia McKelvey, its new executive vice president in charge of business development and marketing, had no experience in boxing. Yet both believe uncharted territory is better than the haphazard alternative.”

Jon Saraceno, USA Today: “In February, Pacquiao, newly elected as a Filipino congressman, visited President Obama at the White House and also met with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), for whom he campaigned. Demonstrating budding political savvy, he sought Reid's legislative assistance on behalf of a job-creating bill relating to the garment industry in his homeland. Asked to compare the vagaries of his two occupations, Pacquiao said with a laugh, ‘There is no cheating in boxing — only in politics.’ At 5-6 with a Justin Bieber-like mop-top, the goateed left-hander stands taller than many contemporaries. He appears to be the charismatic antithesis of the preening, often-narcissistic, sometimes-rude modern-day athlete. Pacquiao embraces all — even news media. More than mere boxer, he is a lawmaker, philanthropist, singer, spokesman and bona-fide hero to the masses of his impoverished homeland.”

Martin Rogers, Yahoo! Sports: “He is Allan Rivera Manuel, a 26-year-old airport worker and father of one from Houston, and he bears such an uncanny resemblance to the Pacman that he has turned an appreciation for a modern legend into a profession. Manuel rocked up in Vegas after flying from Texas to Los Angeles to meet his manager, and will spend the next few days soaking up the residual adulation of the Pacquiao show. The likeness is so convincing that an hour in Manuel’s company made me forget he wasn’t the real Manny, despite having covered several Pacquiao fights and having sat within touching distance of the superstar at a news conference a day earlier. I’m not the only one getting confused. Among those fooled the last time Manuel was in Vegas were Roy Jones Jr. and, incredibly, Antonio Margarito, who spent 12 brutal rounds in the ring with the Pacman at Cowboys Stadium in November and ended up with a cracked facial bone for his trouble.”

Check out the second round of Pacquiao-Mosley links.