What Pacquiao-Hatton means for Shane Mosley

At the moment, boxer Shane Mosley is the odd man out. He has much to offer, but he is like a screenwriter, shopping the studios.

“I don’t hear my name being called,” Mosley says.

He is in Las Vegas, as is most everybody else from the world of boxing, the week before Manny Pacquiao versus Ricky Hatton at MGM’s Grand Garden.

The hallways and lounges of the casino have started to fill up for Saturday’s fight with people with pasty skin who use the word “mate” a lot. The Brits aren’t coming. They are here.

For everybody else, Pacquiao-Hatton is a time of anticipation. It should be a great fight. Entertaining, dramatic. For Mosley, it is a time of frustration.

Three months ago, the Pomona fighter put himself back in the picture for future mega-fights by beating Antonio Margarito at Staples Center at 147 pounds. The match drew a huge crowd and Mosley, who had made his mark over the years with two victories over Oscar De La Hoya but had also lost enough to become a journeyman in some minds, was impressive in his domination of the favored Margarito.

“I had a spectacular victory,” Mosley says.

But his sport is fickle, and when Paul Williams fought Winky Wright on April 11 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center, Mosley used the occasion to seek out several boxing writers and plead his case. Boxing is all about who’s got next, and Mosley, at 37, wanted to make sure “next” involves him.

“I want mega-fights,” he says. “I love the excitement. I thrive on it.”

But the permutations and politics could easily bring roadblocks.

Mosley lists his preference for his next fight as follows: 1) winner of the Pacquiao-Hatton fight; 2) the currently retired Floyd Mayweather Jr.; 3) Miguel Cotto, to whom he has already lost.

Bob Arum of Top Rank promotions, who has both Pacquiao and Cotto and whose matchmaking agenda correctly needs to best serve his fighters and his company’s bottom line, lists Pacquiao’s next likely opponents, assuming a victory over Hatton, as Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., Cotto, Mayweather and Edwin Valero.

“Mosley’s name hasn’t been mentioned,” Arum says. “Now, of course, if others fall out, he could be in there.”

Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach, says that Mosley visited the Pacquiao camp and talked about a fight.

“I asked Shane if he could get down to 142, and he said no,” Roach said. “I don’t think Pacquiao-Mosley is likely.”

Pacquiao won the biggest fight of his life at 147 pounds, when he beat De La Hoya last December, but Roach has been fairly steadfast in wanting him to stay at 140, where he will fight Hatton.

There is also the thought in the Pacquiao camp that their superstar, again assuming he beats Hatton, would be best served with a breather before the next big box-office bonanza sometime late in the year. That would make the match with Chavez Jr. seem likely, even though he is considerably bigger than Pacquiao, although nowhere near the fighter yet.

Arum appears to like that, especially because he promotes both fighters. Roach appears to be ready to veto it, seeing that Chavez Jr. is more like a 154-pounder, or, at the lowest, 147.

“He’s too big,” Roach says.

A Hatton victory, or even a loss, might work for Mosley, who says he might consider going to Hatton’s home of Manchester, England, to fight. But Hatton has said he also wants to stay at 140, and that remains a tough downward stretch for Mosley.

“Hatton is such a huge draw,” Mosley says. “That would be exciting.”

The real wild card in all this is Mayweather, who retired after he knocked Hatton against the ring turnbuckle in the 10th round Dec. 8, 2007.

Everybody seems to just assume Mayweather will return. There are rumors of an IRS lien against him, plus word that he remains in fighting shape. And because Mosley is both a partner in, and a fighter for, De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions, that may be his best shot.

“Mayweather is unbeaten (39-0), and was the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world when he retired,” Mosley says. “He shouldn’t be afraid of anybody.”

The larger question is whether Mayweather wants to come back against one of the two boxers in the world -- Pacquiao being the other -- who may be able to match his speed.

Mayweather’s desire for a lucrative comeback, if that is his desire, will face tough roadblocks with Arum. One of Mayweather’s advisors is music producer Al Haymon, who also represents Paul Williams.

According to sources, Haymon and Arum had a deal a few years ago for Williams to fight Top Rank star Kelly Pavlik, but the deal came apart.

Now, Arum, who also once promoted Mayweather, says that Haymon “did some things that weren’t very nice,” and calls him “a Machiavellian SOB.” Arum says that about the only way he would get involved in a Pacquiao-Mayweather promotion -- which may eventually be the fight the public clamors for -- would be if Mayweather used Golden Boy and its chief executive, Richard Schaefer, as his promoter.

“Richard and I can negotiate tough and fight hard,” Arum says, “but he is a good businessman and I trust him.”

The likelihood is that Mosley will cast about for several more months, while the aftermath of Pacquiao-Hatton sorts itself out.

“Ten years ago, I was listed among the top 10 pound-for-pound fighters,” Mosley says. “I want to get back there.”

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bill.dwyre@latimes.com.