Mosley: I will never
drink my own urine
By ALEX P. VIDAL / PNS
March 30, 2011
Two-time world
welterweight champion Sugar Shane Mosley told the ESPN Sports Nation
recently while it is true that there have been reports in the past
that Mexico’s Juan Manuel Marquez “drinks his own urine” reportedly as
secret of his ring success, he won’t do the same even as he prepares
to fight seven-time world champion Manny Pacquiao on May 7 at the MGM
Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
“No,” swore the
39-year-old Mosley, who was studio guest in the one-hour popular TV
sports show in the United States. “I will never drink my own urine. I
will rely on my natural talent.”
Now training in a
high-altitude camp in Big Bear,
California,
Mosley (46-6, 39 KO’s) had bolted from the management of the Golden
Boy Promotion to sign a rich deal with Top Rank to fight the
32-year-old Pacquiao (52-3-2, 38 KO’s).
He had served notice
as a serious customer by personally lobbying to face Pacquiao since
2009 and was always visible in the press conferences of Pacquiao’s
three previous fights in Nevada and Texas.
‘True competitor’
“Manny’s a great guy
and when I look at him I look at him as a true competitor. I look at
him as someone who really wants to win. He loves the sport of boxing
and he loves to fight,” Mosley said.
Mosley mangled Antonio
Margarito in the 9th round for the WBA weltereight belt on January 24,
2009. Margarito, on the other hand, lost to Pacquiao by unanimous
decision in Arlington, Texas last November 13, 2010.
Mosley lost by
12-round split decision on Nov. 10, 2007 to Puerto Rico’s Miguel Cotto
(36-2, 29 KO’s), who was stopped in the 12th stanza by Pacquiao on
Nov. 14, 2009 for the WBO welterweight title.
He will fight Pacquiao
for the WBO 147-lb championship in a pay-per-view card to be
co-promoted by the MP Promotion and HBO in the same arena where
Margarito tortured and tore to shreds Cotto for the WBO welterweight
bauble on July 26, 2008.
Marquez (52-5, 38
KO’s) fought Pacquiao twice, splitting the first and losing in the
rematch by a hairline decision.
In their first duel
for the WBA/IBF featherweight titles on May 8, 2004, Pacquiao dropped
Marquez three times in the opening round but could not finish of the
hard-hitting Mexican warrior known as “Dinamita” or dynamite.
Bloody brawl
Marquez, 37, one of
the most effective counter-punchers in the world, turned the rest of
the rounds into a bloody brawl and salvaged a draw after 12 rounds.
In their rematch on
March 15, 2008, Pacquiao scored the only knockdown in the 12-round WBC
superfeatherweight title bout and once more failed to put away
Marquez, but hammered away with a controversial 12-round split
decision.
Pacquiao suffered the
ugliest cuts in his ring career.
Ring expert Freddie
Dawson of Las Vegas said Marquez, the reigning WBA/WBO lightweight
champion, will forever be a nightmare for Pacquiao, who has reportedly
nixed a third meeting with Marquez. Pacquiao’s camp has been egging
Floyd Mayweather (41-0, 25 KO’s) to face the Filipino lefty but has
closed the curtains for a third match with Marquez.
“Even Muhammad Ali had
a hard time each time he fought Joe Frazer. The style of Marquez is
difficult for Pacquiao to handle,”
Dawson,
63, said.
Dawson, however,
didn’t comment that it is because of Marquez’s alleged propensity to
drink his urine why he has become durable and packs extra ordinary
power in both fists.
‘We’re ecstatic’
Meanwhile, Bob
Halloran, MGM Grand Sports Entertainment director, quipped during a
recent press conference to kick off the Pacquiao-Mosley setto: “We’re
not happy you’re (Pacquiao) back, we’re ecstatic. We know that when
you get the best promoter you ultimately get the best fighter and
that’s what we have in Congressman Pacquiao and Shane Mosley.
Globally, the most popular fighter in the world today is Manny. We got
the best.”
Halloran added: “Every
time this guy fights, we open the ticket office and then they all go
home in an hour. We’ve got about 580 tickets left for this fight and
we’ll have about 30,000 closed circuit tickets available at our
different properties around Las Vegas.
“You may not have this
many cameras at the Grammy’s on Sunday night. They’ll be lucky if they
have this many.”
Pacquiao, a
congressman representing Saranggani province in
Mindanao, is now on the final stage of his two-month long training in
Baguio City supervised
by his foster father and trainer Freddie Roach.
He and wife Jinkee
will fly to Hollywood, California for his final preparations at the
Wild Card gym two weeks before the showdown with Mosley.