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Originally posted by Horus
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Mayweather in no hurry to return for Mosley
Thursday, January 29, 2009
By David Mayo
Shane Mosley is making noise about fighting Floyd Mayweather again, both with his mouth and his fists.
Perhaps he hasn't been listening.
Mayweather might be willing to come back for the biggest fight in boxing. Or maybe not. He has not wavered from his position of the past several weeks, that if he felt guided to return to the ring for the sport's biggest possible event, he might. A definite maybe.
Problem is, Mayweather-Mosley isn't the biggest possible fight.
Make no mistake, Mayweather's return would be the biggest event in boxing. No debate about the overloaded welterweight division is complete without speculating about the Grand Rapids native's potential for a comeback. He is the highest-earning American in the sport, outside of Oscar De La Hoya, whose star power was dulled by last month's lopsided loss to Manny Pacquiao.
Boxing could use a comeback by the undefeated Mayweather. And the longer he stays inactive, the more his ardent pursuers come to view him as vulnerable, which only increases the outcry.
Like from Pacquiao, the man who assumed Mayweather's pound-for-pound mantle.
Or from Ricky Hatton, the man left pancaked on a Las Vegas canvas, courtesy of a walloping left hook, last time Mayweather was seen in a ring.
But Mosley?
Mosley staked his most recent pursuit of Mayweather with a dominating ninth-round knockout of Antonio Margarito on Saturday before the largest crowd ever to fill Los Angeles' Staples Center for any event. Not even the 2004 Pistons-Lakers championship series drew like Mosley-Margarito.
Keep in mind, however, that both Mosley and Margarito entered the fight with five losses. As impressive as Mosley's power display was, it isn't as if beating Margarito hadn't been done.
It also is worth remembering the interminable delays Mosley caused for Mayweather on at least two occasions earlier in their careers, when the fight made all kinds of sense, only for Mosley to shy away.
Ten years ago, when a fight between them would have matched two of the brilliant, rising stars in the sport, Mosley balked. He and his father and then-trainer, Jack, were at Van Andel Arena the night Mayweather brought Grand Rapids its first championship fight, after which Jack Mosley was asked to assess his interest in the matchup.
For $10 million, his son would take the fight, Jack Mosley said, knowing that Mayweather had earned a $150,000 base purse for that night's lackluster decision over Carlos Rios, and that Mayweather-Mosley wasn't worth eight figures even if the purses were combined, then multiplied by two.
They traveled divergent paths for years thereafter. Mosley moved up to welterweight and defeated De La Hoya, only to lose twice to Vernon Forrest. Another win over De La Hoya boosted him again, only to fall victim to a pair of losses to Ronald "Winky" Wright.
It took until mid-2006, after Mosley scored consecutive knockouts over Fernando Vargas, before Mayweather-Mosley made sense again.
Mosley decided to take a vacation instead, leaving Mayweather to fight Carlos Baldomir.
So what would encourage Mayweather, whose eye is on bigger prizes against other marquee opponents, to agree to such a fight now that it benefits Mosley?
Probably nothing.
Richard Schaefer, chief executive of Golden Boy Promotions, said after Mosley's victory that he intends to open talks with Mayweather's representatives.
That phone might ring a while.
Mayweather-Mosley would be enormous. But fill in Mosley's name with someone else's -- someone who didn't hold up Mayweather's career, back when it mattered -- and that doesn't change.
Mosley, at 37, scored a big victory. That doesn't mean he is the person to lure Mayweather out of retirement. That fight could have happened on several occasions. Mosley opted out every time.
As much as Mosley might want to opt in now, the only opponent Mayweather should wait out is the Hatton-Pacquiao winner in May, assuming he is waiting
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