Did Mosley's prime end after De La Hoya I?

[Fox McCloud]

I never thought about this until just now...

He runs the game on the lightweight division for a while.

Skips 140.

Then beats Oscar at 147. He is P4P #1 and on top of the world.

Then Vernon Forrest kicks his ass.

He hops up to 154. Gets a super controversial win against De La Hoya in their second fight and gets a no contest with Raul Marquez. Then gets his ass kicked against Winky Wright twice.

He then proceeds to beat Fernando Vargas once when he virtually tied on the scorecards (against a quite shot Vargas). Then he beats Vargas again, quite convincingly.

He then drops down to 147 and kicks Collazo's ass and then loses to Cotto, looking more than a little diminished in skill.

So... were the fights from Forrest I to Vargas I all flukes? Or did he just have a couple of good nights (or good luck) against Vargas II and Collazo?

I think the case can be made pretty easily that almost anyone could have beaten Vargas the night they rematched, but Collazo isn't a bad fighter. Could he just not handle what speed Sugar Shane had left?

What does everyone think?

[TheGreatA]

I guess he kind of achieved it all after the DLH fight and didn't care as much about it anymore. He was always much more motivated in his rematches against Forrest and Wright.

[Silencers]

I think it wasn't until after the Wright fights that he was past his prime but he's one of those fighters where even though he isn't in his prime he still has enough in his tank to give any top fighter trouble, he just has to be motivated.

I don't think the Vargas or Collazo fights were particularly good nights or good luck because he gave a young, prime of his life fighter in Miguel Cotto all he could handle for 12 competitive rounds.

[-Hyperion-]

the moment he moved up to super welter....


he ruined himslef, he moved up becasue with forrest on top, there was nothing he could do at welter....if he had stayed there he wouldve beaten mayorga and regained his glory.....

i was just watching dlh-mosley 2 again last night....and i struggled to give shane more than 3 rounds...

winky wright was actually a good style match up for shane imo...thats why he loooked better, but i dont think hes ever gotten over the forrest losses...

[TheGreatA]

Mosley should've fought Mayorga when Mayorga dethroned Forrest. That would've been a good, winnable fight for Mosley.

[scap]

Actually it was the following year when he beat Antonio Diaz (underated fighter), Shannon Taylor (tough guy but limited-brutal body shot) and Adrian Stone (weak but what a beauiful KO) when he was considered at his best-going into the Forrest fight he was unbeatable in my mind(just about everyones mind)-the perfect fighter.

[Allucard]

I pretty much agree. Mosley has made a terrible mistake moving up. Moving up is easy, moving down is not

[tredh]

I don't know if I would say his prime ended but I will say he became a lesser fighter when changed from being a boxer-puncher to thinking he is a KO artist. At his best Mosley couldn't beat Forrest or Wright.

[-Antonio-]

I never thought about this until just now...

He runs the game on the lightweight division for a while.

Skips 140.

Then beats Oscar at 147. He is P4P #1 and on top of the world.

Then Vernon Forrest kicks his ass.

He hops up to 154. Gets a super controversial win against De La Hoya in their second fight and gets a no contest with Raul Marquez. Then gets his ass kicked against Winky Wright twice.

He then proceeds to beat Fernando Vargas once when he virtually tied on the scorecards (against a quite shot Vargas). Then he beats Vargas again, quite convincingly.

He then drops down to 147 and kicks Collazo's ass and then loses to Cotto, looking more than a little diminished in skill.

So... were the fights from Forrest I to Vargas I all flukes? Or did he just have a couple of good nights (or good luck) against Vargas II and Collazo?

I think the case can be made pretty easily that almost anyone could have beaten Vargas the night they rematched, but Collazo isn't a bad fighter. Could he just not handle what speed Sugar Shane had left?

What does everyone think?

I think Vargas' whining really made that out to be something it wasn't. I had Mosely ahead by a couple of rounds at least.

And although many believe Vargas was shot, he still had come off beating the WBC champ (stripped for no reason) in Castillejo.

His prime ended when he moved up to 154 to answer your question. It might have been longer if he stayed at 147.

[Tyson2k7]

the moment he moved up to super welter....


he ruined himslef, he moved up becasue with forrest on top, there was nothing he could do at welter....if he had stayed there he wouldve beaten mayorga and regained his glory.....

i was just watching dlh-mosley 2 again last night....and i struggled to give shane more than 3 rounds...

winky wright was actually a good style match up for shane imo...thats why he loooked better, but i dont think hes ever gotten over the forrest losses...

Yeah to this day i don't know what happened here other than giving a decision to Mosley in order to extend his career. Oscar would still be Oscar win or lose but Shane would not.