As the boxing world waited patiently on pins and needles in hopes that negotiations between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao would produce the fight of the century, I couldn't help but to look ahead and realize that what I thought was a light at the end of the tunnel was nothing more than a train headed directly for disaster. Many have said that boxing needed Mayweather vs. Pacquiao to be considered mainstream once again, but we seem to have forgotten about two fighters in training as we speak who are eager to fill the void that is now left with the collapse of the megafight. Mosley vs. Berto anyone?

Scheduled to fight in less than 4 weeks, in my opinion, Shane Mosley and Andre Berto will provide the type of action that will kick off what will still be a great year for boxing. In Shane Mosley and Andre Berto, we have two fighters who are battle proven and who can bang, to say the least. For Berto, this is a career defining fight. For Mosley, this is another opportunity to state his case as being the best welterweight in the world. We all know how true warriors perform when their backs are against the wall. Expect an early 4th of July as both men will create fireworks with the heavy leather that's traded on January 30th.

Was it too much to hope for that we would get the Mosely vs. Berto and Mayweather vs. Pacquiao all within the first quarter of 2010? Was I foolish to believe this was really going to happen? Maybe we all were. As far as mainstream exposure is concerned, what was once the best 3 months in boxing ended up being several episodes of 90210. Maybe if we're lucky, we can get some use out of our Court TV subscription to still see the dream match-up between Mayweather and Pacquiao play out in a court of law.

As my book closes on the bloody subject, I have to hope that the next step forward that boxing takes will make up for the two that it just took backwards. It all starts on the 30th of this month. In 2009, both Mosley and Berto got the year started off with a bang in separate bouts; Berto winning in a close, competitive, entertaining bout against Luis Collazo and Mosley dominating and stopping the feared Antonio Margairto. This year, they'll be asked to do the same except this time, against each other. No pressure! Happy headhunting Mosely and Berto.