Shane Mosley:"Will the real Mexican Assasin please stand up?"

SHANE MOSLEY: EVERY TIME THEY THINK I'M DONE, I COME BACK AND SHUT-EM DOWN AND MAY 7 WILL BE NO DIFFERENT!" By G. Leon GL: Congrats on landing the Manny Pacquiao fight. What can we expect to see from you on fight night? "I'm just happy that I got the fight, and I believed in my heart that I was going to get it. J. Prince and I went down to talk with Bob Arum, and had a few meetings a few weeks before it got done. We had positive feedback, and just like Bob said, if Mayweather didn't come out and say he wanted the fight then it would be me. He was true to his word, so I'm happy and excited. I'm ready to go and put on the best performance of my career." GL: What are you looking to redeem more, the Mayweather fight, the draw with Mora, anything? What's your biggest motivation going into this figh? Shane Mosley: "My biggest motivation going into this fight is to win. All the time they're trying to count me out and say I can't do it. But this is the kind of fight that Manny and me both like to fight and go at it. A lot of the fans see the excitement this fight will bring, a lot of writers don't and I can't see why this is the best fight he could have made." GL: I think that there's a huge double-standard that some people are trying to crucify this fight after Manny Pacquiao just fought Margarito who had done nothing since you kicked his ass. In his fight before that he fought Clottey who was coming of a loss to Cotto, so I really don't the big problem with him fighting you. Shane Mosley: "That's all very true. I knock Margarito out and nobody says nothing about it going into the fight because they know it was going to be exciting. This fight will be more exciting than that one was. I don't understand why some people feel that way, but it is what it is? I've asked these guys if they put me in the ring with Marquez or Berto, who do you think would win? Most of them think I would win. Whether it's because I'm too big for Marquez or Berto hasn't been tested, they think I will win, so I really don't understand where they're coming from. If I can beat the other two guys they were mentioning, I really don't understant it. You're making a great point though, because I demolished Margarito and then I knocked him out. Manny didn't knock him out after I did and I don't understand. This will be a great fight and it will be exciting. Everybody who has ever wanted to mix it up with me has gotten knocked out." GL: Both you and Pacquiao are two of the greatest Mexican assasins of this era. Is that something you've given much thought to? SM: "That's exactly what it is. I fight Latino fighters pretty well and so does he. It's only right, with Manny Pacquiao being a warrior who deserves all his accolades to want to fight the best. I deserve my accolades also and I'm very happy this fight will take place. The fans are going to see two warriors going at it in a great fight. I don't know why Dan Rafael and some of the others have downplayed this fight acting like I'm going to get crucified or something. I'm not in over my head and I never have been so I have no idea what they're talking about." GL: A lot of these guys are the same guys who wanted to see Manny fight a black American boxer. Now he's doing it and they still got something to say, but as you said it is what it is. SM: "Exactly. It blows my mind that they're doing this. I kind of have my suspicions of why, but I don't want them to kill the fight. I hear this guy on ESPN talking about the fight and it's ridiculous. They're killing the fight game." GL: I would ask you about those suspicions, but that would open up a Pandora's box as to who some of these guys really work for, so we'll leave that alone. SM: (laughs) "Good idea." GL: Will there be any additional testing going on for this fight? SM: "Not that I know of, but I'm all for it. As far as I know it's going to be a head up fight, but I've heard some things Freddie Roach mentioned about testing and steroids and stuff, but if they want to some testing, that's great and I'm all for it because I know I'm good. We could start testing right now if they want. It was surprising to me that he mentioned that because some people have suspicions about Manny, which I don't think are true. It just blew my mind, but I'm good, so we can test next week." GL: Two Mexican Assasins fighting each other on Cinco De Mayo weekend. Wow. SM: "Will the real Mexican Assasin please stand up." GL: Based on what you know about Pacquiao do you view him as a more difficult style than Mayweather? SM: "I think Mayweather is more difficult. They have different styles. Mayweather uses his defense to land his shots. Manny Pacquiao comes to bring it and he's a southpaw, which might mean he's going to do a lot better with Mayweather, because Mayweather doesn't do too well with lefties. I view Mayweather as being a more difficult fight because of the way his defense leads to his offense. Manny is a lot more open to land big shots than Mayweather is and I could punch a little bit. (laughs)" GL: When I spoke with you before the Mayweather fight I thought the 16 months off would be a bad thing for you. You disagreed. Looking back do you agree with my position a bit more now? Did the way that went down in your best interest or Floyd Mayweather's? SM: "I would have to say it was better for Floyd Mayweather. But to his credit, he's the type of fighter that you have to be in the ring with to understand how to fight him. Being in the ring with him I really understand his game now. I understood it before, but I really get it now. He's a very technical fighter and a very difficult fighter to fight. Once you learn how to get past that one move, he has a good move that he makes with a counter and it throws you off. But once you get past that things could go a lot better. But Floyd is an excellent fighter and he throws very sharp punches. Technically he's very good and his defense is great." GL: So Shane is the second or third time you're supposed to be completely done in the last six years? SM: "It might be the fourth! (laughs) "After De La Hoya, Winky Wright, Vargas. It's ridiculous but it motivates me. If you notice every time I'm supposed to be done and finished I do something to completely shut them down and that's what the fans can look forward to on May 7. Sometimes I resurrect myself so well that they don't know how to promote me. After I beat Margarito, some people think it was my best performance ever, I beat him and I can't get a fight for 16 months before I fought Mayweather." GL: That was horrible, terrible and I don't even want to talk about it. It was terrible and it makes me sick every time I think about it. You just made me think about it now, so I forgot my next question. Give me closing thoughts and we'll wrap it up. SM: "It's great to be back on **********. On May 7 I'm coming to give 100% and the fans have a great fight to look forward to. It's going to be explosive and I can't wait!" Send questions and comments to: **********g@yahoo.com