Why Mosley protected as a Lightweight...

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[billeau2]

don't know the details but do remember that when Mosley was in his prime there were a lot of talented guys in the division. You had guys all over the place in tbe light to middle weight classes, Quartey, De La Hoya, Judah, Forrest Vargas, Mayweather, to name a few... And Mosley was considered one of the best because of his power....I mean a lot of guys had speed and could box, but Mosley had some **** when he dropped the anchor!

On that note for one of the guys like Merchant, or Letterman who are pretty good judges of talent, to think Mosley was a leg up because of his speed and power would be a fairly logical conclusion. I think the middle divisions on down in Mosley's 90's heyday were more loaded than they have been since.

[Khmelnytsky]

..., was he matched with right guys there to make him look spectacular and just create a hype? I seem to recall that Larry Merchant called him the best lightweight since Roberto Duran (and I'm sure I don't have to remind you guys about champions who ruled that division between Duran's and Shane's time there).
What I find interesting is that all 3 meaningful fights that could've been made for him at the time would be against crafty southpaws - Nazarov, Johnstone and Baptiste-Mendy... Particulary the first 2 I would think could've easily been made, Mendy probably not so much - his record suggest he had a great comfort over in France.
So, what happend?

Nazarov was crafty but also had scary power and was likely a harder puncher than Mosley considering what he did to Thobela. That guy went on to win a super middleweight title by beating a puncher like Catley and went the distance with Kessler yet Nazarov hurt and dropped him several times in their fights.

Can't really say Mosley avoided him though since Nazarov's career was already over around the time Mosley won his title on account of literally getting shot in addition to being blind in one eye. De La Hoya on the other hand definitely could have unified with Orzubek but didn't and both of them skipped over 140 where Tszyu was.

[beez721]

don't know the details but do remember that when Mosley was in his prime there were a lot of talented guys in the division. You had guys all over the place in tbe light to middle weight classes, Quartey, De La Hoya, Judah, Forrest Vargas, Mayweather, to name a few... And Mosley was considered one of the best because of his power....I mean a lot of guys had speed and could box, but Mosley had some **** when he dropped the anchor!

On that note for one of the guys like Merchant, or Letterman who are pretty good judges of talent, to think Mosley was a leg up because of his speed and power would be a fairly logical conclusion. I think the middle divisions on down in Mosley's 90's heyday were more loaded than they have been since.

mosely was a beast in his prime. the losses to Vernon forrest really hurt his status. forrest just had a style that troubled mosely much like Norton had with ali. I still feel a young prime mosely would have beaten mayweather. he was that good

[soul_survivor]

Mosley is by no stretch of the imagination the greatest LW since Duran but he definitely had the talent to become one. Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, he moved up to 147. Personally, I think that was a damn brave decision, to go 12lb north and fight the best welterweight on the planet, man that took balls (and PEDs).

[billeau2]

mosely was a beast in his prime. the losses to Vernon forrest really hurt his status. forrest just had a style that troubled mosely much like Norton had with ali. I still feel a young prime mosely would have beaten mayweather. he was that good

Its possible. Would have depended on how fast and how good a punch Mosley had...would it have been enough to overcome a guy who had enough speed and power to compete with people with such exceptional natural instincts as Mosley and Judah?

We must keep in mind how good Mayweather was at the lower weights. He had such ring smarts, his own natural abilities...and he tended to do well against punchers who were not pressure fighters. IMO that would be Mosley's problem, and for that matter, a prime Judah's problem as well. Mayweather had problems with pressure guys more than punchers, but I think mosley had a chance for sure.

Forrest was an incredible boxer, technician, meaning that he had a real great sense of range. I always thought that Mosley was a guy who fought on instinct. And his old man (ha! again just like Judah!) was not capable of analysis beyond the variety of "get him!" So yeah Mosley never had a chance...truly styles sometimes make fights.

[billeau2]

Mosley is by no stretch of the imagination the greatest LW since Duran but he definitely had the talent to become one. Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, he moved up to 147. Personally, I think that was a damn brave decision, to go 12lb north and fight the best welterweight on the planet, man that took balls (and PEDs).

Yeah....One truly should tread on that comparison.....Lightly. Duran was a complete fighter. Her had natural abilities in spades and...He had power and a chin that was superior to Mosley. Duran also was smarter in the ring, had a killer instinct, and though Mosley did fight good competition, Duran fought the best competition.

I always thought of Mosley like Judah as a guy with great natural gifts....an exceptional athlete more than a fighter in many respects. But that is a biase of mine.

[IronDanHamza]

Don't know if he was protected but his resume there is abysmal.

[Sugar Adam Ali]

Honestly, the lightweight division was pretty weak when shane was there,,

would have loved to seen him at lightweight in the early 2000s with corrales, castillo, casamoyer, spadafora, floyd, lazcano, diaz, etc...

Shane, much like hopkins at MW was stuck in a weak division in the late 90s

[ShoulderRoll]

The "power boxing" Shane Mosley at lightweight was definitely something to behold. Blazingly fast hands and a hard puncher with terrific body work.

His resume is lacking but I don't see anyone around at the time who I would have picked to beat him with the exception of a young Mayweather. And even that would have been a toss up fight IMO, with maybe Floyd's superior boxing IQ allowing him to pull out a close win in the end.