Manny Pacquiao looks to add to his legacy heading into bout with Shane Mosley

Manny Pacquiao's accomplishments during a 16-year career are, in one way, more impressive than any in boxing history.
He has won major- sanctioning body world titles in a record-tying six weight classes, and since he also defeated two others who were considered people's champions many experts are giving Pacquiao credit for winning championships in eight weight classes.
Either way it's quite remarkable, and Saturday he will try to add to his legacy when he defends his welterweight title against "Sugar" Shane Mosley at MGM Grand in Las Vegas (on Showtime pay-per-view).
When thinking about what Pacquiao has done in the ring, it kind of makes one wonder how he would have fared during a more celebrated era of boxing - the 1970s and '80s. Roberto Duran established himself as one of the best lightweights in history, if not the best. Aaron Pryor was an animal at junior welterweight and Sugar Ray Leonard was a multi-division champion at his best at welterweight.
All are in the International Boxing Hall of Fame, which is where Pacquiao is headed.
During an interview, Leonard spoke in animated tones about the what-ifs, even if he was slightly reluctant.
"It's such a hypothetical thing," he said. "But that's what makes boxing tick, when people say can this guy beat that guy? `Can Sugar Ray Robinson beat Sugar Ray Leonard?"'
Duran, of Panama, was a beast at lightweight. When he was hit, he responded in savage fashion.


One would think Leonard might say Pacquiao would stand no chance against Duran at 135 pounds. But ...
"Duran was a better boxer than he was given credit for. He hit like a ton of bricks and he had a great chin," Leonard said. "That would be a fight. They would both be so energetic. Both guys would whale away at each other."
Pryor had two terrific knockout victories over Alexis Arguello, another all-time great, in the early 1980s. Leonard perked up when surmising what a Pacquiao-Pryor bout would be like.
"Oh, man, that's a fight I would like to see," he said. "Pryor was a monster. He was like the Tasmanian Devil in there. Each punches with serious conviction.
"First of all, it would end in a knockout. Without question. It depends on who hits who. Great speed and power and huge (heart)."
Leonard then summed up himself against Pacquiao.
"I'm physically bigger than Manny Pacquiao and my speed was ... I don't know how to measure speed but," Leonard said, intimating he had superior hand speed. "Manny throws more punches than I threw. He throws like a ton on punches. I think I was a little more defensive than he was.
"It would be a cat-and-mouse game. There is not one way to beat Manny. I would try a number of things."
Notice Leonard never picked a winner. It wasn't because he didn't want to embarrass Pacquiao by saying he couldn't have defeated any of the three. Quite the contrary. Leonard believes Pacquiao has demonstrated he could have been competitive with fighters from any era.
"Yeah, anyone that has that kind of hand speed and that kind of bravado, the heart, that guy can hold his own against anyone," Leonard said.
Leonard thinks highly of Pacquiao (52-3-2, 38 KOs), but doesn't buy into the notion Pacquiao's accomplishments might be overstated because the fighters he's faced at lightweight and above have, in the eyes of some experts, been made to order.
Some experts have said David Diaz wasn't that good, Oscar De La Hoya was drained, Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto had been beaten badly in previous fights and Antonio Margarito had been dominated by Mosley.
Leonard isn't buying any of it.
"There is not a day that goes by that I don't hear about Pacquiao's demolition of (Antonio) Margarito and his demolition of (Oscar) De La Hoya and all the fights he's had," Leonard said of the positive things he's heard about those wins. "As far as I'm concerned, that's all that really matters.
"He's a star, he's a good guy and he's been good for boxing. So, it's hard for me to knock that."
Pacquiao, who never boasts, not surprisingly refused to get caught up in comparisons of any kind.
"I never think of comparing myself to anybody," he said. "I don't like my accomplishments to compare to anybody. Of what I have right now and accomplished in boxing, I'm happy for that.
"And I'm happy because I'm giving happiness and enjoyment to the people."
Pacquiao, a newly elected Congressman in his native Philippines, admitted even he's amazed at everything he has accomplished.
"It's more than I ever dreamed," he said.
His promoter, Bob Arum, didn't mind talking in general terms about where Pacquiao rates with the all-time greats. Arum initially said, "Yeah, he could be," when asked if Pacquiao could be the greatest ever. Then he clarified that thought.
"I mean, I'm limited to the fighters I've seen because I've never seen Ray Robinson, I never saw Joe Louis, I never saw Benny Leonard," said Arum, a promoter for 45years. "So of the fighters I've seen, I would rank him as the best."
Freddie Roach, Pacquiao's trainer, wouldn't quite go that far.
"It's hard for me to say he's better than Duran and Sugar Ray Robinson and stuff like that," Roach said. "I wouldn't say that, but I would say he's the best fighter of his era."

Pacquiao against Sugar Ray Robinson? Hmmm.