F-LO IS BACK! Mosley Gets His Lottery Fight As An Opponent

Written by Frank Lotierzo

Sunday, 06 February 2011 23:29

F-LO IS BACK! This coming May 7th former three division champ Shane Mosley 46-6-1 (39) will challenge WBO welterweight champ Manny Pacquiao 52-3-2 (38) in what will certainly be the last high profile bout of Shane's Hall Of Fame boxing career, unless he upsets Manny. By the time the bell rings for round one, Mosley will be four months shy of turning 40 years old. And let's be honest, Mosley has looked every bit the part of a 40 year-old fighter during his last two bouts, versus Floyd Mayweather and Sergio Mora.

Since turning pro in February of 1993 Mosley has fought and defeated the best fighters of nearly two generations. Shane was willing to fight the best boxing had to offer in between 135 and 154. In 53 career bouts Mosley has never been stopped and only his long time career rival, the late Vernon Forrest ever managed to put him on the canvas. During a career that's entering its 18th year, Mosley has given his best effort physically every time out and even on some of those rare nights that he was out-gunned by his opponent, he never quit trying to force the fight. The fact is Mosley has never submitted to any opponent he's ever faced. And with that, a fighter pays a price, and that is Shane has endured plenty of punishment even on the nights he won impressively. Because Mosley wanted to take his opponents' head off with every punch he threw, he was always in position for return fire from them. Mosley fully grasped that in order to do damage to his opponent, he had to commit to his punches, something that cannot be said about some the best fighters in boxing today.

Unlike Bernard Hopkins who's had as many fights as Mosley, Shane has taxed his body more and never really used all of his physical assets as a boxer, due to his stubbornness. Shane was a terrific boxer who loved to fight. Hopkins has never really been beaten up in the ring, whereas Shane has been beaten up more and also administered more beatings than Hopkins.

Another difference between Mosley and Hopkins is, Shane was almost too willing during his career. In order to make a fight Mosley had no qualms about putting himself at a disadvantage during the negotiations. This is opposed to Bernard, who was just as willing, but sought a more level playing field on fight night. For Mosley it was whatever it took to make the fight with the best boxing had to offer. Hopkins was of the same mindset but is/was more judicious regarding the factors outside of the ring.

For all the great things that can be said about Mosley the fighter, he'll probably go down as one of the least appreciated great fighters in history. It's no secret that Shane hasn't been part of many super-fights during his career, unlike Oscar De La Hoya, Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao. All three of them fought widely publicized signature fights during their respective primes and hit the lottery regarding their purse. Shane beat Oscar after he lost for the first time in his career against Felix Trinidad, and because of that it wasn't two undefeated stars facing each other at or near their prime. Seven years would pass before Mosley would partake in the highest profile bout of his career five months before his 39th birthday when he challenged Floyd Mayweather.

It's very rare in professional boxing that a fighter the caliber of Shane Mosley has to wait until nearly his 39th birthday to fight for the biggest purse of their career. And it is due to Mosley's high profile bout with Floyd Mayweather, along with his unimpressive showing in the ring that night, that he won the Manny Pacquiao sweepstakes as the fighter who will oppose the Filipino dynamo next. In Mosley, Pacquiao has the perfect opponent at the perfect time. And everybody knows Shane is just an opponent for Pacquiao. But he's an opponent who even at this stage of his career will provide Manny with plenty of motivation. For Pacquiao, winning the fight isn't so much the challenge. No, the challenge is in the task of whether or not he can be the first fighter to stop Mosley. Beating him at almost 40 won't bolster Pacquiao's legacy that much, but everyone will remember if Manny goes on to be the first fighter to stop him.

I've read where some have a hard time with Mosley being the shell of the fighter he once was and getting a fight with the biggest star and pound-for-pound best fighter in the sport. Well I don't. Mosley has paid his dues and many fighters much more undeserving than an old and washed up Shane Mosley have been afforded the opportunity to make a ton of money in a high profile PPV bout.

Here's what we know about the upcoming Pacquiao-Mosley bout. Pacquiao will win it. Mosley will try and win it by knockout and won't stop trying until it's over. It'll be an exciting fight however long that it last. And lastly, Mosley will be highest paid opponent in boxing history. As they say, better late than never. I for one don't begrudge Mosley one bit and of all the fighters who have earned the position to fight Pacquiao next, Mosley deserves the big payday the most even if his role is just as an opponent. Let's just hope that, after the career he's had, he'll be well enough to enjoy it.

Comment on this article

FighterforJC says:

As I've said many times, to me the significance of this fight for Pacquiao is that he would've fought the top welterweights of this era. Cotto. Margarito. De La Hoya. Mosley. Clottey the dark horse of that list. And he would've done it in just two and a half years. It took Mayweather twice that amount of time to fight ONE elite welterweight. In the last 5 years Mayweather loyalists have been too busy defending his refusal to fight the top welterweights and are left with nothing but would've could've arguments. Should Pacquiao get past Mosley, I'd love for him to take on the younger fighters, albeit less marketable, like Berto, Bradley and Alexander.

L.C. says:

I give Mosley credit....I'll definitely watch it!

Radam G says:

Sugar Shane Mosley is the third of the great Sugarmen, according to his trainer, automagical wise old genie Naazim Richardson. I will buy that, and I will say just as Sugar Ray Robinson and Sugar Ray Leonard got stopped, so will Sugar Shane. But not because he is washed up. He's not the fighter he use to be, but he is far from being washed up. He has an everlast -- I mean elderly-last -- trait like Glen "The Road Warrior" Johnson, Bernard "Ole B-Hoppy" Hopkins, Jack Johnson, Archie "The Old Mongoose" Moore, Jersey Joe Walcott, Roberto Duran, Bob Foster, Evander "The half of deck" -- I mean "The Real Deal" Holyfield and Rev. [Big] George Foreman. These cats could still get down in their late 30s and 40s.

Whatever genes that the above have/had, so has SSM too. He is DANGEROUS, but that is what gets the juices and blood of Da Manny flowing. Expect for THC PacMan to stop Shane in the middle rounds, nonetheless. If the Sugarman was a boxing lamb, he'd go the distance and cry that he was robbed. But since he is Lirilla -- a beast which is part lion and part gorilla -- he will fight hard and go out on his shield. Da Manny is going to have to lightning whup SSM. Because dat sucka is coming to get paid, hoping not to get kayoed LAID! I see it now. Da Manny is going to rain snap, crackle, pop shots on the Sugarman's noggin and torso, but SSM will try to stay in it ta win it. But to no awail. His ship will be destroyed by the most astounding, rapid-punching hail. And from that pier, it will be a total wreck and won't be able to sail. Holla!

amayseng says:

i have no problem with this fight, shane is a warrior he has given much to the sport and the fans. i mean, how could anyone support margacheato getting a payday and fight against manny but not support shane? the only thing i will say is that if this fight happened 5 years ago at ww shane would win. prime against prime shane is a better ww than pacman. btw, is this fight for the ww or sww title? i cant remember what weight it will be at

Gino Ros says:

@ Figther for JC,

Please help me understand how you are giving Manny so much credit for fighting Oscar, yet not Floyd for fighting a younger and healthier Oscar.

Manny gets credit for fighting Clottey, yet Floyd gets no credit for fighting Judah (who happens to be Clottey's best win).

Just curious.

FighterforJC says:

Floyd was favored to beat DLH easily. He barely escaped with a split decision that many, including Floyd Sr. felt Oscar deserved. DLH handpicked Pacquiao and the general public felt it was a gross mismatch in DLH's favor. The oddsmakers should've known better than make the older and less healthy DLH the huge favorite over Pacquiao rather than discrediting Pacquiao afterwards. Judah was coming off a loss against world class bum Baldomir when he fought Floyd. Also, Judah is known for being weak mentally and for not being able to stick to a gameplan. You need someone of Johnny Cochran's credentials to defend Mayweather's refusal to fight anyone. He was an excellent lightweight who fought the best lightweights, but the second he moved up and began to get the public's attention he did his best to avoid the biggest risks. I'm sure Floyd fans have all sorts of excuses why he didn't fight Cotto, Margarito, Williams, and now Pacquiao, but at the end of the day, most of these guys have fought each other and the only name missing from the group is Mayweather.

Isaiah says:

Mayweather fans, just look at how I laid it out for you in the previous Cotto/Mayorga about the best welterweights in the last few years who are of course Mosley, Margarito, Cotto, Clottey, Mayweather and Pacquiao. These guys are the creme of the crop of welterweights since about 2007 and look to see who fought who. Look and see that the only guy on that list that Mayweather has fought is Mosley while the other guys have AT LEAST 3 out of the other 5 names a piece. Now, once again... can YOU spot the KITTY KAT? LOL! Manny Pacquiao's first welterweight fight was TECHNICALLY in late 2008 against Oscar De La Hoya (whom was a huge betting favourite to beat the Pacman by the way), but in reality, Manny didn't face one of the NAME welterweights until Miguel Cotto in November 2009. Just.... WOW! Only going from November 2009 to May 2011, Manny will have faced ALL NAME welterweights worth mentioning since at least 2007! Floyd Mayweather has been in the division since November 2005! What's that chump done to be called the greatest since then? Let's see, he's beaten... BLOATED AND OLD Sharmbra Mitchell, coming off a loss Zab Judah where Floyd should have been DQ'ed because of his uncle, no good Carlos Baldomir, past prime Oscar De La Hoya who almost beat him, BLOATED Ricky Hatton and then poor terrifed Floyd had to retire to play hanky panky with the Big Show, oh.... and then, come back and take on SUPER BLOATED AND OLD Juan Manuel Marquez and FINALLY face a past his prime NAME Welterweight in Shane Mosley. Congrats Floyd fans! That only took nearly 5 years! Oh, also before and after that last win, Floyd has ONCE AGAIN COWARDED AWAY from Manny Pacquiao left and right and public outcry doesn't mean jack to this primma donna whom calls himself the GOAT while Sugar Ray Robinson is rolling in his grave.

ultimoshogun says:

Although I believe Mosley's chances of an upset are slim, I'll still be watching come May...they say the last thing to go is your punch and Sugar Shane can hurt Manny at any point of the fight, the same way Maidana almost took out Khan late in their fight.

Radam G says:

I'm calling it now. Sugar Shane Mosley will suffer his seventh lost by a seventh-round stoppage or a vicious kayo by a seven-punch combo on the seventh of May, the night of the fight. And on that, I betting BIG! See ya -- I wouldn't wanna -- at da fights. Time to make like an atom and SPLIT! Holla!

FighterforJC says:

Can anyone imagine Hagler ducking Hearns because "Hearns already got knocked out by a welterweight," or ducking Leonard because Leonard got beat by a welterweight whom Hagler beat? Or how about Foreman ducking Ali on the grounds that Foreman easily KO'd the two guys that beat Ali?

brownsugar says:

obviously Floyd's one of my favorites.. but there's no argument since he's basically retired. Floyd reached his peak about 5 years before Pac...now it's Pac's time...Floyd has gone from P4P to hardly around...@ FighterforJC there's really nothing to support since he isn't in the mix anymore If he comes back... then I'll be glad to entertain the subject. .....Mosley is a mixed bag... he's bottled lightning.... and he's pulled the sword from the stone... he's slain dragons and displayed a chin of stone...but on the night of May 7th I'm afraid his behind... Pacman will own.......what ever Floyd left behind... Pac is sure to take whatevers left. I'm confident however that Shane will make his presence known before he's permanently retired from elite status. (wow,.. love the spell checker)

Joe says:

Shane will be the bigger guy; but he'll be slower - I think he's going to get his butt kicked. Maybe he'll remember his dad's advice to "powerbox". Hope he gets a nice paycheck and maybe I'll get lucky and see Jin somewhere in the crowd she might be curious too.

FighterforJC says:

I recently met a young amateur who's a good friend of the Mayweathers. He says that big Floyd and Jeff are urging Floyd to take a tuneup before fighting Pacquiao. He also says that Floyd really thinks Pac is on something. The kid is a friend of the Mayweathers so his stand on the matter is understandably biased.

Radam G says:

Wow! I'd never believe a single word of a star-crazed amateur. Family Mayweather just want to make sure, so they say. But deep down inside, they don't believe that "Manny is on steroid" jive. Besides, Da Manny is willing to take any tests. What the Mayweathers do believe is that the boxing judging powers that be would robbed them in a bout with Da Manny. Nonetheless, they are paranoid about nothing. There will be no robbery, because Da Manny would convincingly knock "Lil' Floyd" da double fudge out. Put dat joker to SLEEP! Anyway, holla at the French Pacquiao from a 100 years ago. Frenchman Georges Carpentier -- a world light heavweight champion who lost in his effort to take Jack Dempsey's heavy world title -- was a French champion in all eight boxing divisions [112, 118, 126, 135, 147, 160, 175 and heavyweight].

Since Uncle Roger says dat Da Manny is on "A-side Meth," that help Filipinos to walk through American bullets and that the slugs were bounding off our arses, I guess that he'd say Carpentier was on E-side Meth" that help Europeans to walk through Mandingo warriors' arrors, spears and darts when the Europeans were storming through and conquering Africa. When people cannot handle reality, they start making up the myths and getting the naive and the mudholed to believe them. Money May has chosen to duck Da Manny, and Money May fanfaronades have chosen to believe the MYTH of Da Manny being on the "Filipino steroids" -- "the best in the world," according to Fam May and its dimwitted loyalists. Maybe they are sleep deprived with a serious case of clinophobia. They would not want to even dream about what Da Manny would put on Money May. Holla!

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