Manny Pacquiao has been given the chance to share the ring with his former rival after missing out on the opportunity to fight Mario Barrios.

Pacquiao was in line to fight for the WBC welterweight title against Barrios until advisor Sean Gibbons informed World Boxing News that “the boxing legend’s ship has sailed.” The next target of the talks in London was Amir Khan, before Pacquiao’s intentions went tranquil again.

Pacquiao will celebrate his 46th birthday in a few weeks, and the man he defeated in 2011 has taken up the challenge. Shane Mosley, now 53, former Pound for Pound star, wants to do battle with “Pac-Man” after returning to action on the show.

Mosley took part in a “Celebrity Boxing” fight against a trainer from Philadelphia, dominating the competition from start to finish. He looked good for his age, but wasn’t at the level required to face Pacquiao, who is nine years younger.

“Pacquiao. I want to fight Pacquiao, man,” Mosley told Fight Hub TV after his victory over the unheralded Bob Kofroth. Mosley then focused all his attention on Oscar De La Hoya in a fight that never happened. The boss of Golden Boy has already ruled out a return to the ring.

“I would fight Oscar [De La Hoya]but Oscar doesn’t want to fight,” Mosley noted. “He was talking about this whole mess [about me coming back at 53]but he doesn’t want to fight. I don’t understand this. He should keep my name out of his mouth.

“I wasn’t even talking about him, but he came up and started talking about me. He’s just jealous because I beat him twice. But we might as well do it a third time while he talks about this whole mess. But he doesn’t want that smoke. He really doesn’t.

“Sugar” Shane is already showing signs of wear and tear when he speaks, so it would be best to avoid any notions of Pacquiao. The De La Hoya fight isn’t impressive in itself, but it still sparks debate about boxers fighting in their 50s.

WBN talked about this possibility ten years ago and the writing was on the wall then. Ten years later, it may still take some catastrophic incident before retired fighters fully understand the message.

The next fight between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul will take place on November 15.

In terms of critical pedigree, few boxing biopics can match the double Oscar-winning film documenting the lives and times of Micky Ward and his brother Dicky Eklund, “The Fighter.”

The film was nominated for Best Picture of 2011, with Christian Bale as Dicky and Melissa Leo as family matriarch Alice winning top awards for Best Supporting Actor.

It’s demanding to argue with critics.

Mark Wahlberg plays Micky Ward and the movie was his idea. The actor reportedly always wanted to star in a boxing movie, and he and Ward had known each other for years.

“The Fighter” presents a slice of Ward’s life and the ups and downs of his relationship with his trainer and brother, as well as his life in and out of the ring.

Bale stole the show in the nearly two-hour film, and those looking for flaws from a boxing perspective had a field day.

This was Hollywood – not a documentary after all. Which seemed pointless, because Micky and Dicky’s story was dramatic enough.

The period captured in the film was also met with criticism. For example, it stopped after Ward won the lesser-known WBU title with a victory over Shea Neary in London.

It did not include the period when Ward reached the height of his fame towards the end of his career, especially thanks to the trilogy with Arturo Gatti, which went down in boxing history as one of the greatest rivalries. There is some archived footage of these wild fights in the end credits, but that’s about it.

And the fact that the storytelling skipped that timeline always left a glimmer of hope that there would be a sequel – something Ward wanted and Wahlberg sometimes joked about.

Unfortunately, it was never meant to be.

What remains is an excellent biopic that falls into the “based on true events” category, documenting Eklund’s struggle with addiction and Ward’s career as a down-on-his-luck fighter, all set against the backdrop of a messy family.

Eklund is portrayed as a lovable if infuriating bastard, which could pass for fair commentary.

The brothers’ relationship was one of helping each other as best as they could, in their own way. It was as if Micky’s routine and discipline helped give Dicky structure, while Dicky, who had learned some of the hardest lessons in life, was able to pass on lessons about some of his many mistakes to his younger brother by saying: “do what I say.” , not like me” share this wisdom.

Wahlberg delivers an underrated and underappreciated performance as Ward. He is flawless and was probably his hardest job in the film. How can you play the role of an ordinary guy who still makes a living by paving roads? How do you make it believable without making it jump off the screen? That’s a challenge in itself, because despite all of Micky’s fame and his fights of the year against the likes of Emanuel Augustus, Gatti and Neary, and despite the movie and the fact that he was played by a star, Ward never changed.

I met Micky in 2001, a few weeks after the first fight with Gatti, while visiting him at his home in Lowell, Massachusetts.

Over the next 20 years I made many wonderful memories with Micky. I went back to his house in Lowell several times. Despite everything – distinctions; movies; success – never moved. He never changed his number. He remains everything you would want a worker’s idol to be – self-deprecating, humble and forthright.

If anyone watched “The Fighter” and felt inspired, Ward doesn’t fall into the category of heroes you’ll never meet.

In fact, when I left Micky’s house one day – and with a long journey ahead of me – he insisted on taking me out for food and coffee.

On another trip to Boston, I visited Micky to record my “Boxing Life Stories” podcast with him, and what we recorded is a faithful reflection of our friendship over the years, with some laughs and some somber moments along the way. While in the area, Dicky and I went out to lunch and he and I recorded another podcast episode. I thought Dicky would talk about his wild life and wasted youth, but he was actually demanding to figure out. I remember him telling me that wasn’t the case then it was bad and he argued: “The newspapers made me look like Al Capone.”

We often meet at the International Boxing Hall of Fame. I took my wife there on vacation one year and we met Micky and Dicky at Graziano’s, which was demolished by bulldozers.

Micky and I went and sat in the cabin to talk while Dicky could court my wife.

You should have seen the look on her face when Micky and I rejoined them at the bar 30 minutes later!

Micky’s paths also crossed with mine when I was writing “Damage” and I read in his excellent biography “A Warrior’s Heart” that he donated his brain to research when he passed an exam as part of an significant brain study for athletes and competitors in Boston.

As always, he jokes, “It’s not like I used it too much!”

Of course, Ward underestimates his price, but a brain is one thing and a heart is another thing entirely, and it’s the latter that he’s best known for.

And that’s where “The Fighter” best showcases Ward, both in and out of the ring. Micky Ward was always full of heart.

That’s why the title was so poignant. In Micky’s case, there are no heirs or favors. I’ve never been. He was and always will be a warrior.

The perfect left hand that Peter McGrail drove into Brad Foster’s body last weekend couldn’t have been delivered at a better time.

The shot hit Foster in the worst possible place at the worst possible time and quickly ended the junior featherweight fight. Thanks to this, fans remembered at the right time what the 28-year-old Liverpool player is capable of.

McGrail was an outstanding amateur, and his talent was so great that fans quickly began to take his victories for granted. Last December’s shocking and sudden loss to relatively unknown Ja’Rico O’Quinn was a major shock.

In April, McGrail (10-1 (6 KO)) came back from defeat, defeating the arduous Marc Leach in comprehensive but understandably watchful fashion and needed an eye-catching result.

Foster is a former British and Commonwealth champion but – at least in terms of results – is in needy form.

The red “L”s on a fighter’s BoxRec page don’t leave much room for nuance and don’t do justice to how close Foster’s defeats were to Jason Cunningham and Rhys Edwards. No one even came close to doing what McGrail did to him.

“I felt like it was on the cards, you know what I mean? He’s been hitting the body well in sparring lately, so that’s been good,” McGrail’s trainer Paul Stevenson told BoxingScene.

“It was always quite an uphill battle because he [Foster] he is good, has great weight and is powerful. He has good tactics. He’s astute and experienced and no one has ever done this to him before. And he was ready for it.

“Obviously this is the best type of finish you can get. All it takes is one shot and we go home in the second round against an opponent like that, because it could be a long night

“I don’t remember who it was now, but someone said he was sort of like what Liam Davies is now when they were supporting and pushing him a few years ago. And his losses were pretty close anyway, right?

In recent weeks, British and European champion Dennis McCann was cleared to defend both of his titles against McGrail.

Given McGrail’s amateur pedigree, the decision was quickly made to jump him through the world rankings, and he bypassed the burgeoning British scene and concentrated on climbing the WBA ladder.

Over the past few years, the outstanding Liam Davies has established himself as a top-10 player in the world at 122 pounds, while McCann has matured and begun to develop into the talent that many predicted he would be when he burst onto the scene as a teenager.

Suddenly, the prospect of facing British rivals became much more attractive to McGrail. Yes, domestic bragging rights would be at stake, but the fights with Davies and McCann would now have global ramifications as well.

“With the Riyadh season you can pay them accordingly, so it makes sense for everyone. Well, certainly for us,” Stevenson said.

“You can go on the British route and you can have really difficult fights to the death for a slight rise in the world rankings, and I just never really liked that route unless you had a boy who you were sure that was his limit.

“With Nick [Ball, the WBA featherweight champion]We didn’t even care about it. We just shot up the WBC rankings.

“But like I said, I think out of the guys you mentioned, we have the best kid in Pete, so the one who will give Pete the best development and the best finances is him.”

As Stevenson mentioned, Riyadh Season is the place to be, and the fight between McGrail – repped by Matchroom – and Queensberry’s McCann looks to be a chance for the second installment of the 5v5 series, pitting fighters from promotional giants against each other.

McGrail’s team is certainly interested.

“I don’t think they want that. “I think he made a bit of noise because Pete didn’t smoke in his last fight and he got beat in his last fight and he probably thinks it’s the right time for him,” Stevenson said. – But of course when he saw her do it [to Foster]now Dennis McCann makes different sounds.

“It’s up to them. We’re doing our thing anyway, so if it’s not them, it’ll be someone else, and if not the Saudi, it’ll be somewhere else, but we’ll just keep making progress and Pete can be world champion for 18 or even 12 months from now. Just see what happens.