Next Saturday (September 18), a just turned 39-year-old Shane Mosley will return to the ring to face Sergio Mora at junior middleweight. But even approaching 40 and coming off a decisive loss to Floyd Mayweather in May, Sugar Shane is ready to prove to fans and critics that calls for retirement are very premature.
The former welterweight and junior middleweight champion was hounded his last training camp by rumors that he looked sluggish and off in sparring. This time at a higher weight, Mosley assures that his body is adjusted.
“I think I feel I little bit more comfortable now [at junior middleweight],” said Mosley, who holds wins over Oscar De La Hoya and Fernando Vargas at the weight. “I’ve been at 154 so I know what it’s like. I don’t really have to make 154. I’ve been pretty sharp and I’m ready to go. I can [still] go to 147 if I’d like to. If there are fights at 147 I’d have to take, then I’d take that.”
Following his upset beatdown of Antonio Margarito in January 2009, Shane Mosley was universally viewed as the best welterweight in boxing. But he was unable to entice Floyd Mayweather or Manny Pacquiao into a fight, and sat on the shelf for the rest of the year. An canceled fight with Andre Berto in January 2010 kept him out of the ring until this past May, where fan and critic perception of him went from elite welterweight to past it fighter overnight after losing to Mayweather.
Citing issues with his neck and tightness that developed around the fourth round, Mosley is willing to face Mayweather again to show the encounter was simply an off night.
“Mayweather has decent power but it wasn’t like ‘whoa, he can hit,'” Mosley stated. “Basically it wasn’t my night. If we fought again, we could assess it better. There were a lot of things I couldn’t do, and he was better in that fight. 147 or 154 it wouldn’t matter [for a rematch]. We could even do it in the middle at 150.”
Junior middleweight is a weight class that now features former welterweight stars like Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto alongside the established fighters of the division like Kermit Cintron and Paul Williams. Assuming he is successful next Saturday, Mosley is eyeing a showdown with either the winner of the WBC title match between Pacquiao and Margarito, or a rematch with now WBA 154 titlist Miguel Cotto.
“[After Mora] If I can get in the ring with the winner of Pacquiao-Margarito or Miguel Cotto that would be great,” Mosleu explained. “I think Pacquiao will come out on top [against Margarito] because he throws a lot of punches. He’s accurate. But Margarito is a tough fighter. He throws a lot of punches and is consistent. It can be a different fight [from me] because styles makes fights. It’ll be a different fight from the way I fought him.”
The entire Shane Mosley interview will be published next week here and on AllHipHop.com.
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