This content is protected The adviser of eight-division titlist and WBC junior middleweight (154 pounds) king Manny Pacquiao told FanHouse that the Filipino superstar will make a CBS-Showtime televised, May 7 defense of his WBO welterweight (147 pounds) belt against three-division, five-time titlist Shane Mosley, this, being Pacquiao's first time departing from rival network HBO. Michael Koncz said that Pacquiao (52-3-2, 38 knockouts) will be pursuing his 14th straight victory and his ninth knockout during that run against Mosley (46-6-1, 39 KOs), with CBS being Showtime's parent company. Koncz, who confirmed an initial report from ***********.com, acknowledged a big advantage presented by Showtime's ability to televise a multi-part series that is equivalent to HBO's 24/7 -- on CBS. There is also CBS's ability to reach 115 million homes compared to HBO's 28 million homes. "We've worked with HBO for many, many fights, and it's always great working with them. But, you know, sometimes change is good for everybody involved. So we're making that change and we're going on Showtime this time," said Koncz. "It's a big benefit for us, economically, and he's going to be getting wider viewership," said Koncz. "It's a different platform for us, and I think that it's important to have a different platform. It's going to take it out of the regular pay-per-view audience because we have a lot of options with the network." In the coming months, Showtime pay per view will have a Top Rank Promotions show featuring WBA junior middleweight (154 pounds) king Miguel Cotto (35-2, 28 KOs) defending against Ricardo Mayorga (29-7-1, 22 KOs) on March 12 at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas. This content is protected Also on Showtime on Feb. 26, Top Rank Promotions lightweight (135 pounds) Brandon Rios (26-0-1, 19 KOs) will challenge WBA king Miguel Acosta (28-3, 22 KOs), who has a 19-fight winning streak the includes 12 knockouts, and stoppages in his previous three bouts. And on Showtime on April 16, a Top Rank Promotions featherweight (126 pounds) bout features southpaw WBO king Juan Manuel Lopez (30-0, 27 KOs) against ex-IBF champ Orlando Salido (34-11-2, 22 KOs) from Lopez's native Puerto Rico. Rios is coming off of an HBO pay per view televised, Nov. 13, fourth-round knockout of Omri Lowther (14-3, 10 KOs) that was contested at the Dallas Cowboys Stadium on the under card of Pacquiao's unanimous decision over Antonio Margarito for the WBC's junior middleweight belt. Top Rank Promotions does have a monster promotion on HBO on Feb. 19 from the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas during which WBA interim super flyweight (115 pounds) titlist Nonito Donaire (25-1, 17 KOs), who is Pacquiao's Filipino countryman, will face WBO and WBC bantamweight (118 pounds) king Fernando Montiel (44-2-2, 34 KOs). In addition, Top Rank will feature an HBO-televised, March 26 bout with Cuban-born WBA and IBF featherweight king Yuriorkis Gamboa (19-0, 25 KOs) against WBA interim super featherweight (130 pounds) titlist Jorge Solis (40-2-2, 29 KOs) of Mexico with Gamboa's titles being on the line from the Adrian Phillips Ballroom at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. On the under card of Gamboa-Solis, featherweight contender Miguel Angel "Mikey" Garcia (24-0, 20 KOs), of Oxnard, Calif., will face Matt Remillard (23-0, 13 KOs), of Hartford, Conn. Cotto's trainer, Manny Steward, who also works as a ringside commentator for HBO, called the development "confusing and stressful." "I don't know too many details about it, and I don't try to be concerned about it. But when I first got involved with taking the fight, I just figured automatically that it was going to be on HBO because Miguel has always been an HBO fighter," said Steward, who first was made aware of the potential for Cotto-Mayorga to be on Showtime during Wednesday's New York press conference. "New York was the first time that I heard about it. Since then, I don't know what all has been going on. It seems like it's been bounced all over the place," said Steward. "There's so much going on right now that I'm not even interested in knowing about it. I'm just trying to get through this fight and hope that they can sort out this Showtime-HBO war, or this promoter war, or whatever's going on."
