The Week in Boxing: News on Pacquiao, Arce and ‘Canelo’

Manny too much for Mosley
<figure id="attachment_12104" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-12104" style="width: 266px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a class="highslide" onclick="return vz.expand(this)" href="/sites/default/files/2011/05/610x11.jpg"><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-12104" title="Mosley of the U.S. takes a punch from Pacquiao of the Philippines during their WBO welterweight title fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena" src="http://laprensa-sandiego.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/610x11.jpg" alt="" width="266" height="194"></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-12104" class="wp-caption-text">In defeating Shane Mosley last Saturday night, Manny Pacquiao further cemented his status as boxing’s pound-for-pound best fighter.</figcaption></figure>
   On the first Saturday of May, boxing’s top thoroughbred, global superstar and Filipino Congressman, Manny Pacquiao, won a resounding 12-round decision over Shane Mosley to retain his WBO welterweight title in the main event of a four-fight telecast of the big Showtime PPV.
   The one-sided victory before 16,412 at the sold-out MGM Grand Garden Arena was the 14th in a row for Pacquiao, of General Santos City, Philippines. An eight-division world champion, Pacquiao (53-3-2, 38 KOs) was victorious by the scores of 120-107, 120-108 and 119-108. Three division champion Mosley, of Pomona, Calif., dropped to 46-7-1 with 39 KOs.
   Pacquiao was the aggressor throughout. Each boxer registered a knockdown; Pacquiao dropped Mosley with a solid left hand in the third round. Mosley got credit for a knockdown in the 11th, but replays showed that southpaw Pacquiao went down from a push.
   “We tried our best,’’ said Pacquiao, who is universally recognized as boxing’s No. 1 pound-for-pound boxer. “We both gave it our best effort. My legs tightened up during the fight. I couldn’t move. It’s the same thing that happened to me against (Juan Manuel) Marquez. It’s been happening to me more lately. “Mosley is not slow. He’s fast and I had to be cautious of his counter-punch.’’
   Regarding a possible fight with Floyd Mayweather, Pacman said, “For me, I don’t care about that fight. I am satisfied with everything that I have done in boxing. I want to fight because the people want the fight.’’
   Mosley, who has never been knocked out and is one of the great lightweight champions of all time, had nothing but praise for Pacquiao afterward. “You can’t blame age,’’ said Mosley, who, at 39, is seven years older than Pacquiao. “Manny is an exceptional fighter. He truly is the pound-for-pound king. He has speed and power that I have never felt before.”It’s amazing. He’s cut from my cloth so I had to box tonight. “He surprised me with that power, with that knockdown. That’s the most legitimate knockdown on me in a long time.’’
   The Pacquiao-Mosley pay-per-view telecast will re-air tomorrow, May 14 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on SHOWTIME
Arce makes history
   In other bouts on the telecast, Jorge Arce (57-6-2, 43 KOs), of Los Mochis, México, became the first Mexican boxer in history to win four world titles in four weight divisions when he scored an upset 12th-round TKO over huge favorite and defending WBO junior featherweight champion Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. (20-1-1, 17 KOs), of Bayamon, Puerto Rico.
   The crowd-pleasing Arce, a former world champion at 108, 115, 118 and now 122 pounds, was ahead by five points on one of the scorecards and even on the two others going into the 12th round of what had been an action-packed, fast-paced bout before it was stopped at 0:55 when Vazquez’s corner threw in the towel. “I knew I could knock him out and I did,’’ Arce said. “My heart is too big. He’s a good, young champion with a big punch but my experience and my heart was too much for him.
   “There was no other way than to bring the fight to him. I fought like a true Mexican warrior. I won it for Mexico. Now my name will forever be mentioned when you speak of Mexican fighters.’’ Vazquez was upset that the fight did not continue. “I was fine,’’ he said. “They should have never stopped this fight. I feel that I would rather get knocked out and end up on the canvas than having it stopped the way it did. My father stopped it. He never should have.’’
Arreola looking slim and trim for Carson clash
   “The Nightmare” Arreola, is on target to enter the Home Depot Center boxing ring tomorrow night, Saturday, May 14 in Carson, CA at his lowest weight in four years. “Right now I’m training very hard,” said the former #1-ranked world contender about his upcoming 10-round fight with Nagy Aguilera (16-5, 11 KOs) as the co-featured bout underneath the Super Six World Boxing Classic semi-final contest between WBA Super Middleweight Champion Andre Ward and Arthur Abraham. “I’m looking more to showing than talking; at least until after the fight,” said the normally ‘sound bite’ machine who ballooned up to a career high of 263 pounds in 2009. And now Arreola is back in Riverside hard at work with Ramirez for his upcoming bout. So what was Arreola’s motivation for re-dedicating himself? “I hate to lose,” he said. 
El Canelo looking forward to title defense
   On Saturday, June 18, WBC Super Welterweight World Champion Canelo Alvarez, fresh off of his title-capturing win March 5 over Matthew Hatton, will return home to the Arena Vicente Fernandez Gomez (VFG) in Guadalajara Jalisco, Mexico to defend his crown for the first time against top contender Ryan Rhodes of England. “I am very excited that my first world title defense will be in Guadalajara,” said Alvarez. “I promise I will work extremely hard to give all of my fans a great performance on June 18. Ryan Rhodes is a very dangerous opponent, but nothing will get in the way of me winning this fight. “One of the first things Canelo told me after he won his world title was that he didn’t want to sit around waiting,” said Oscar de la Hoya, President of Golden Boy Promotions. “He wants to fight, he wants to be an active champion and we’re going to give him every opportunity to do that.

The Week in Boxing: News on Pacquiao, Arce and ‘Canelo’

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