By Rick Reeno
"Sugar" Shane Mosley (43-4, 37 KOs) makes his return to the welterweight division for the first time since Sept. 2003, to challenge former WBA welterweight champion Luis Collazo (27-2, 13 KOs). The bout with Collazo will be Mosley's third bout at the welterweight limit since 2003.
After two impressive knockout wins over Fernando Vargas, Mosley promises to knock Collazo out to extend his win streak to five. A streak that Collazo has promised to break.
"It's time for Shane to pass the torch,'' Collazo said. "This is my time. He isn't the same Shane Mosley of 10 years ago.''
Last May, Collazo lost a close points decision to Ricky "Hitman" Hatton, but his performance in the fight opened up a lot of boxing eyes. Collazo began to receive more respect after Hatton moved back down to the junior welterweight division because of what even Hatton admitted was a mediocre performance in their fight.
Collazo is a notorious slow starter that needs to pick up the pace early if he plans to beat Mosley. The biggest reason he lost his fight with Hatton was because of his inability to win the early rounds. He basically gave some of those early rounds away as he hung back and allowed Hatton to control the pace and outwork him. There were many that felt Collazo still did enough to win the fight, and Mosley was one of them.
"You can say he's the uncrowned champion,'' Mosley said. "That fight with Hatton should have been a draw at best. Luis is a rising star and a difficult guy to fight because he's a southpaw and because he'll come with everything he has to try and beat me.''
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