Naazim Richardson: Shane just showed the world how to beat Pacquiao

This content is protected

: Shane Mosley's trainer Naazim Richardson laid down a brilliant gameplan to put his fighter in a position to succeed against Manny Pacquiao when they fought last May 7 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. But as they say, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink".
Mosley's alibi is the blister he sustained in his foot from favoring the other that allegedly went under the knife to repair his achilles tendon prior to training camp. The blister issue, however, surfaced during the tenth round all the while when Mosley was reluctant to fight from the opening bell.
I say, Mosley was simply an incapable weapon. It's not that he couldn't pull the trigger, he never had a trigger to begin with. I, together with some prior to the fight, gave Mosley the benefit of the doubt. I thought he could at least muster all that's left in his blinking tank for one last push. I didn't expect him to beat Pacquiao, but I thought he could've done better than he did. As brother Naazim said himself, I too thought Shane was 'cut from a different cloth'. Unfortunately, that tank was past blinking; it was empty. And Mosley simply didn't have enough change in his game to afford the $4 per gallon rate to be able to keep up with an all-time great.

This content is protected

Mosley did, however, do a few things right. "All he's doing is showing somebody else how to beat this mother****** (Pacquiao)," Richardson said on the sides as he witnessed Mosley move the way he wanted, while failing to capitalize on the opportunities it presented. What Richardson was talking about is how they tried to spin Pacquiao by having Mosley pivot to his left while moving back as Pacquiao jumped in to launch his attack, similar to how Juan Manuel Marquez dealt with Pacquiao's aggression. Unfortunately, whether it was because of the achilles surgery, the blister, his advanced age, the lack of courage, fear of getting hurt, (insert your theories here), or all of the above, Mosley was unable to counter and make Pacquiao pay.
Pacquiao had difficulty getting to Mosley, and proved Richardson's theory effective. To say that it is how to beat Pacquiao though, is like serving a hamburger without a patty. Mosley continued to backpedal and did not take risks, rendering it almost impossible for Pacquiao to truly get anything in. With that said, running away entirely doesn't score points either. And risks against Pacquiao, yield varying results. Fight him perfectly, and you can still end up like Marquez who won more rounds than anybody else has against Pacquiao, but is also the recipient of the most knockdowns from the 8-division world champion in two fights.
Pacquiao is truly boxing's Rubik's Cube at the moment. Erik Morales found a way to beat him back when he was not quite as polished as he is now. With that said, he still has flaws, and there are ways to beat him. Floyd Mayweather Jr. has the skills to do so, but does he have the intangibles to actually pull it off? And intangibles is something Pacquiao has a lot of. You can't really understand what he brings to the table, his speed, power, ferocity, superior conditioning, and a host of other things, until you actually face him in the ring. And he also has Freddie Roach, one of boxing's best strategists, who I'm sure at this very moment, has already mapped out a plan to try and further address kinks in Pacquiao's armor.

This content is protected

This content is protected