Oscar doesn't think Manny will fight Mosley

Michael Rosenthal of The Ring has a new blog entry up regarding the Mosley-Pacquiao rumors, and some input from both Freddie Roach and Oscar de la Hoya.

Shane Mosley recently went to Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood, Calif., to discuss a possible fight against Roach’s star protégé, Manny Pacquiao.

The conversation wasn’t complicated, Roach said. It went something like this:

Roach: “Can you make 142 (pounds)?”

Mosley: “No, I can’t get below 147.”

Roach: “Then there’ll be no fight.”

Mosley: “But you fought Oscar (De La Hoya) at 147?”

Roach: “You’re not Oscar.”

...

“Manny wants Mayweather because that’s the biggest fight, the fight everyone wants to see. Shane isn’t even on my radar,” Roach said.

This has been the standard line from Roach the entire time. The Pacquiao camp has zero interest in fighting Mosley at 147, and they admit it's because Mosley is a far bigger threat than Oscar was. Roach said all along that Oscar was washed-up, had trigger issues, and wouldn't be good at 147 anymore -- he was right. He doesn't feel the same about Shane Mosley, obviously, and he's right.

Oscar doesn't think they'll ever fight Mosley:

Meanwhile, Oscar De La Hoya, with whom Mosley works in Golden Boy Promotions, said he doesn’t believe Pacquiao and his handlers would ever take the Mosley fight. And if they did, De La Hoya said, “Mosley would crush Pacquiao in a heartbeat.”

“That’s why I think it would never happen,” De La Hoya said. “Mosley is willing to come down in weight and take a smaller share of the pot, which show you he wants to fight the best. Obviously that’s an admirable quality.

“I just don’t feel Freddie and Manny will do it. … Mosley is too big a threat. Was I a risk when I came down to 147? Freddie Roach is smart. He saw something. Was Ricky Hatton a risk? Again, Freddie is a smart guy. That’s why he’s the best."

Roach responds that "we can crush Mosley [like we crushed Oscar]," but that seems to be bravado given his other comments. Fight him at 147 and see what happens. That's the fairest idea for everyone involved. It's also no shot at Pacquiao's manhood if they decide that it's simply not a good fight for them; hey, it's not like their real idea (the Mayweather-Marquez winner) is some easy fight.