Mayweather’s defense will make him a winner today

By Al S. Mendoza

IT is predicting time again.

That’s one job sportswriters love to hate.

But we can’t back off.  Goes with the territory.

The hazards are immense.  But still, we’ve got to do it because one shirking from it isn’t only called a sissy but a half-baked sportswriter.

We aren’t actually experts.  It’s simply that the job calls for us to do it.

Like court judges deemed as experts in handing out decisions, us sportswriters are like magistrates, too: Seemingly infallible.

Our job has clothed us with this air of authority: We know better than anybody else in the business.  We are the best.

Myth as it may seem – it is to me – still, it gives us some aura of invincibility.

So, hu r u picking?

Mayweather or Mosley?

Mayweather.  Not that he’s unbeaten. Simply, Mayweather’s the best right now in defense.

He’s the most unhittable person yesterday.  He still is today.

He’s as wily and as quick as a tomcat you need 10 men to corner Mayweather.

He’s not only fast, he is also slippery.  He knows a solid punch when it’s coming.

His body language is unxeroxable.

But Mayweather will not win by knockout.  His style, his punching power, his aim is simply to win on points.

The only time Mayweather can score a knockout is when his prey is dead-tired.

That’s what he did when he knocked out Ricky Hatton, inflicting Hatton his first defeat.

It came in the 10th (or was it 11th?), after which Manny Pacquiao knocked Hatton out in the second round to send the Briton into forced retirement.

The specter of exhaustion stares Mosley squarely in the face.  He is 39 and he isn’t spring chicken anymore.

Mayweather is 33.

With Mayweather’s dancing, hit-and-run tactics, fight surges, Mosley could tire out into homestretch – which is Mayweather’s serious intention.

Mosley knows his only chance is a knockout.

He knows the fight will surely go to Mayweather if it goes the distance.

Surely, therefore, Mosley will go for it, crowd Mayweather, pin him to the ropes.

In short, it’s a strategy that is hard to execute, especially against a guy like Mayweather, who has a doctorate degree in defense.

But still, Mosley must do his damndest as he couldn’t hope to win on points.

Mosley is definitely stronger as proven by his 39 knockout wins against 51 opponents.

Although unbeaten in 40 fights, Mayweather has stopped only 25 foes.

Each one has potent motives to win today.  But the No. 1 attraction is a fight against our very own Manny Pacquiao.

Mosley’s dream has been to face Pacquiao.

Mayweather, too.

This loudmouth has been mouthing the line all this time that he is the true pound-for-pound king in the world.

But there’s one undeniable reason why both want to fight Pacquiao: MONEY.

A fight with Pacquiao will surely break all money records in the business.

Still and all, barring an accident through a sneak shot from Mosley, Mayweather should be it today.

I goof and I go beerless for a week.

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