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AL BERNSTEIN: "THOSE MIDDLE ROUNDS...THAT'S WHEN MOSLEY'S POWER WILL HAVE ITS BEST CHANCE"

By Percy Crawford | May 05, 2011
AL BERNSTEIN:

"Those middle rounds, I would say Mosley will still be dangerous. Part of the reason why against Pacquiao the later rounds are so difficult is because you've been hit so many times by Pacquiao and he's just an Energizer Bunny. He just keeps going and going. The later rounds for any fighter against Manny Pacquiao are difficult if the fight goes a long way. So yeah, I would say through rounds 5, 6 and maybe 7. That might be a stretch, but that's when Mosley's power will have its best chance. Keep in mind, Margarito hurt Pacquiao in the middle rounds," stated Showtime commentator Al Bernstein, who shared his opinion on how he thinks the showdown between Manny Pacquiao and Shane Mosley will play out this Saturday night. Check out what else he had to say just days before the highly-anticipated sold-out event.

PC: You're just a few days away from calling the biggest fight of the year. How do you feel?

AB: Good! It's gonna be a fun week here for the fight, and busy times for sure, but it's gonna be a lot of fun. I'm thrilled to be able to call it on Showtime pay-per-view. Every time you get a chance to work a fight of this magnitude, it's really exciting.

PC: The last time we spoke, it was almost as if Mosley just had a punchers chance, but with the current history in boxing and with all of the upsets, it should be a little bit of a caution sign for Team Pacquiao.

AB: Well, it's kinda been in the air with so many upsets. Ortiz and Berto, Morales fighting so well, even in not getting the win; I was down in Puerto Rico when Orlando Salido upset Juan Manuel Lopez and a couple of other upsets as well. So it's been in the air lately, and I know Shane Mosley would hope that it's a holistic kind of a thing and he can get it done against Manny Pacquiao. As we said, he's an inherently bigger man and he's powerful. That has not equaled a win against Pacquiao, but there is a first time for everything.

PC: Being that you have been in the game so long, I know you have seen your fair share of upsets, but if Shane were to pull it off, where would you rate this as far as upsets of fights that you've called?

AB: I've seen a lot of upsets and that is a good question. It may rank the highest of the ones I've called because he is a 6 or 7 to 1 underdog. I've done a few upsets, but I don't know if any of them that come to mind that would rival this, so this would be a pretty significant win and upset for Shane Mosley.

PC: Most predictions that I am seeing are Shane early or Pacquiao past 6. Is that the logical prediction in your opinion?

AB: Yeah, probably. Those middle rounds, I would say Mosley will still be dangerous. Part of the reason why against Pacquiao the later rounds are so difficult is because you've been hit so many times by Pacquiao and he's just an Energizer Bunny. He just keeps going and going. The later rounds for any fighter against Manny Pacquiao are difficult if the fight goes a long way. So yeah, I would say through rounds 5, 6 and maybe 7. That might be a stretch, but that's when Mosley's power will have its best chance. Keep in mind, Margarito hurt Pacquiao in the middle rounds.

PC: You and I know how heavily edited Fight Camp 360 episodes are, but I get calls from friends all of the time saying it appears that Mosley is an old guy preparing to face a well oiled machine. What's your take on the perception of Fight Camp 360?

AB: Here is part of the thing that I think made it look that way. And this is me chatting with the folks that were involved with it. Part of the problem is, I don't think that they had as much access to the workouts that Mosley did. Since they didn't have access to the hard workouts, of course they showed what they could. I think that's why you don't see Shane Mosley in as much frenetic activity as you see Pacquiao in.

PC: We know what fighters go through during fight week, but what is it like for Al Bernstein during a big fight week like this?

AB: My problem is I always end up somehow filling up a 25-pound bag with 30 pounds of dirt. This week is no exception. If I was just doing the fight, it would all flow pretty well. Thursday we would have our fighter meetings with the main event guys and then Friday we would have fighter meetings with the undercard guys, and we would go from there, of course, Saturday with the fight. So from Thursday on through fight night, it's certainly intense. This week in particular, for this event, I'm also covering it for www.theboxingchannel.com, a boxing channel in which I am executive producer. We have some great coverage up already from the press conference and we will be covering the weigh-ins on Friday. We will have other correspondents there as well, but I'm going to participate in that. So I got that going on and then the Boxing Writer's Association dinner on Friday night and they've asked me to MC it, so while I'm preparing notes for the fight, I'm also getting ready for all of this other stuff. It's going to be an interesting week starting tomorrow.

PC: You have been around the fight game for a very long time. Do you ever put any stock into the weigh-ins and the way guys are reacting and appearing to look at the weigh-ins?

AB: That's a good question. I learned a long time ago...I don't know if I ever...the only time that I've ever actually thought I could really make a determination based on the weigh-in was when Lennox Lewis fought Michael Grant. Michael Grant looked just completely overwhelmed. And of course he was overwhelmed in the fight. Other than that, I swear, just when I think someone looks extra confident or doesn't look confident, it goes the other way. But I think the weigh-ins are important because of obviously who struggles to make weight and who doesn't. Has somebody come in too light? You can sense things from it obviously and that's why it has some significance, but I've never figured out the demeanor of a fighter from a weigh-in because everybody is different anyway. And in the case of these two fighters, they are both so stoic, you don't ever see giant mood swings by either Pacquiao or Mosley, so it would be hard to determine whether there is an issue. We have to assume both men will make 147 fairly easy; certainly Pacquiao has no problem. I would think Mosley would as well.

PC: Kind of a lost topic on this card is the return of Kelly Pavlik. James Kirkland gave away valuable fighting time to the prison system and Kelly Pavlik has done the same with rehabilitation. What are you expecting and looking for from The Ghost?

AB: I think what he wants to do is have a solid outing. More than anything, he wants to have an outing in which he doesn't get punished. In some of Kelly Pavlik's fights, the quote unquote "tune up" fights even before he took a little bit more of a beating then he wanted to. He was hit more. I think what he's looking for here is to get back to that Kelly Pavlik that had that great jab, powerful right hand, and was a really god standup boxer-puncher. I think that's where he wants to get too. It will be difficult for him, in his first fight back, to regain that form exactly, but he wants to get as close as he can to it and have a solid outing; something that will give him a foundation to build on.

PC: I always look forward to your commentary and your scorecard to see how you have it scored. I look forward to meeting you out in Vegas this weekend. Is there anything else you want to say before I let you go?

AB: We will definitely get together. I just want to remind people that are reading this that the fight is on Showtime pay-per-view and they can check out all of the coverage in advance and post-fight coverage at www.theboxingchannel.com. And we're also going to be streaming live the weigh-ins and post-fight.



[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]

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