By Brent Matteo Alderson
It should have happened a long time ago. The Floyd Mayweather-Shane Mosley dream match up should have happened in 1999. Molsey had been the IBF 135 pound champ since he had beaten Phillip Holiday in 1997 and Mayweather had already established his credentials as one of the top pound for pound fighters in the sport with his disdainful destruction of Genaro Hernandez and then his two round dismantling of the streaking Angel Manfredy. Mosley was looking for a big fight that would earn him the recognition and financial rewards that his talent and performances merited. Mayweather’s camp was too.
Even his father who was still working with him at the time stated, “We shouldn’t have fought Manfredy so soon, now there’s no one left to fight.” There was one match up and it was a dream bout at 135 pounds between Mayweather and Mosley. The problem was that Mosley had fought as an amateur at 139 pounds and was having trouble making the 135 limit. So instead of moving up to 140 pounds where he probably would have dominated the division, Sugar Shane pulled a Roberto Duran and jumped into the 147 pound division in search of a bout with the Golden Boy and won the WBC welterweight title in June of 2000 with a decision victory over De La Hoya.
It appeared as though Mosley’s career might just follow the path of the other great Sugars, but after a trio of wins versus the ordinary Adrian Stone, Shannon Taylor, and Antonio Diaz, Sugar Shane lost two fights to Vernon Forrest and his career went way off track and even a gift decision against De La Hoya in their 2003 rematch couldn’t put it back on track.
A lot of people thought he lost it and felt that the psychological affects of his two losses to amateur rival Vernon Forrest depleted him of that special Roy Jonesque type of brilliance. Truth be told Molsey might have looked good here and there, but really he hasn’t looked to be in his prime since he knocked Stone out in the summer of 2001.
Although I agree that losing can and probably did have some type of negative impact on Shane’s mental outlook, I really believe that the jump in weight, especially to 154 pounds was too much for a man of his stature. He’s 5’8 ½ and can’t even carry 154 pounds without looking all buffed out and muscle heavy, but like a lot of fighters looking for the fame and the fortune, Shane maneuvered his career around De La Hoya’s. He moved to welterweight to get a fight with Oscar and then he moved to 154 to get the rematch. Even though he increased his marketability and made a truck load of money I feel as though Shane lost his chance to really create his own legacy in the sport.
Shane should have moved up to 140 pounds, unified the title, beaten Kostya Tszyu, Zab Judah, and an aging Julio Cesar Chavez and then moved up to 147 pounds on his own timetable. It’s not that far fetched. If things had been different, Molsey might be in the middle of a glorious reign as Welterweight champion of the world. Forrest who has the style to give Shane problems wouldn’t have been a 147 pounder by now and there’s really nobody else that could challenge Shane at Welterweight with the possible exception of Margarito.
Now look at Shane’s career. Even though he was undefeated at 135 pounds he never unified the title and most of his defenses came against guys that were in the fringes of the top 15. He never defended his title against anyone of note, unless you considered an old John-John Molina to be a serious threat. Mosley should have unified with Stevie Johnston and if that fight wasn’t able to be made he should have talked to HBO about setting up a fight with Floyd Mayweather.
Mosley didn’t establish himself as one of the great lightweights or welterweights, but at the end of the day he won legitimate title in three different weight classes and represented the sport in a positive classy way.
Like with a lot of things, the universe has a way of putting things back on their rightful track and that’s exactly what has happened with the careers of Shane Mosley and Floyd Mayweather. Floyd’s moved up in search of the big fights, finally realizing that he could fight alphabet mandatories for a decent amount of money on HBO for years, very much the same way that Roy Jones did until finally father time robbed him of his skills. It seems as though Floyd doesn’t want to follow the Roy Jones scenario and wants to become a crossover star, a fighter who only fights the big fights.
Just like Sugar Ray Leonard, just like Oscar De La Hoya. He has a fight scheduled with the flawed, but very dangerous and talented Zab Judah and then a tentative date with the feared Antonio Margarito in July. Mosley’s coming off of his most impressive performance in years, in dominating and stopping the much bigger Fernando Vargas. Destiny has a way of putting things back in order and the Mosley-Mayweather clash should have happened before, but looks like it’ll happen in the fall. Yah, Mosley is past his prime, but he’s probably also a lot stronger.
Think about it, how hard is it going to be fighting Floyd, a fighter who should probably still be fighting at 135 when you’ve recently tussled with Winky Wright and Fernando Vargas, two guys that have probably walked around at close to two hundred pounds.
Boxing Notes:
Joe Calzaghe validated his entire career with his win over Jeff Lacy. He proved that he’s not a Sven Ottke or a Henry Maske, but that he’s more along the lines of a Bernard Hopkins and put a stamp on his reign much like Hopkin’s win over Trinidad did to his.
I don’t know what was more exciting, Vargas and Mosley going toe to toe or seeing their wives going at it. One thing is for sure, their wives are better looking.
Usually I’m opinionated about who’s going to win a fight and I back up my opinions with cash, but in the Vargas-Mosley fight as well as the Calzaghe-Lacy match I didn’t know what to expect. I’ll tell you this though, I like Mayweather against Zab, but Judah is going to make him work, he’s going push him. I guarantee it.
Lacy’s loss was a major blow to Gary Shaw’s aspirations of being one of the sports main power brokers. Shaw had been working with Lacy since he turned pro and Lacy bolted Main Events when Gary parted ways with Kathy Duva’s promotional outfit.
Donna Duva and her husband Tommy Brooks split ways with her brother Dino Duva and are no longer involved with Duva Boxing. Supposedly the split was amicable, but I still think Dan Duva would be rolling in his grave if he knew what has happened with Main Events, which was really a family operation during his tenure as chief.
Marquez should have taken the 700k for the Pacquiao rematch.
Check out this month’s issue of Boxing 2006, I have a story on Martin Castillo.
I’m excited about the Rahman-Toney fight. It’ll be interesting especially if Rahman fights his best. Toney’s as consistent in his performances as Rahman is inconsistent in his.
Everybody is on the Margarito bandwagon. Steve Kim thinks he’s the best welterweight in the world and Ivan Goldman from the Ring compared him with Julio Cesar Chavez. Don’t get me wrong I think he’s good, real good, but he’s become overrated after being underrated. Check out the tapes of his fights with Danny Perez and Daniel Santos.
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