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Since beating Margarito in January, Shane Mosley has been at the top of the welterweight division and has made it once again to the P4P lists. The win got him a lot of credit and cemented his legacy to an extent. But after the fight, one thing was clear, Shane Mosley now only wanted big money fights.
He wanted Cotto, Pacquiao, Mayweather, or anyone that could bring huge sums of cash to the table. So he waited. He passed up a possible meeting with Paul Williams among other possible fights. Time kept ticking and Mosley remained on the shelf with no "next fight" in sight. Then came the announcements of Marquez-Mayweather and Cotto-Pacquiao, with Mosley being the fifth wheel. Still no "next fight", Mosley still wanted big money but he was running out of options.
Enter Andre Berto. A young, fast, talented welterweight with tons of upside and an already good reputation as a fighter with skill AND heart. Being that Mosley had no one else to go to, his people chose Berto as the "next fight".
So instead of getting a low risk/high reward or even high risk/high reward fight in the summer or the fall, Mosley is instead left with a high risk/low reward fight. Berto will not earn him nearly the money that the above mentioned fighters will, but he still represents a daunting challenge. In Andre Berto, Shane Mosley has chosen to fight someone younger, faster, and with quicker reflexes, for less money.
Okay no big deal right? Fight Berto in the fall, move on to one of the big dogs, right? Wrong. Because of HBO's budget problems this proposed fight has been pushed out to January. So that means, Shane Mosley will have been inactive for a full year and coming back in a high risk/low reward situation.
Even if Shane Mosley wins, like he is favored to do, what will be there for him?
Mayweather and Marquez will have moved on to bigger things and Pac and Cotto will too most likely. So again, Shane Mosley will be left as the odd man out, hoping to cash in before his career is over.
Let's also not forget that Shane will be 38 in September so if he fights Berto and waits around again, he will be nearly 40 years old. Now I know Hopkins has found the fountain of youth, but a guy like Shane Mosley does not fight like Hopkins and gets hit much more often. Shane has been in countless wars and already shows signs of speech problems. I mean, how much longer can he really go?
I see it like this:
IF Shane Mosley beats Berto, he will still not find that big money fight to cash in on.
IF Shane loses, he will either retire or fight once or twice more as a fairwell tour, because his days as an elite fighter will be over.
This is just my opinion. I'd like to mention that I'm a big Mosley fan. I wanted him to get big fights but he waited around too long and now he's stuck with Andre Berto, a daunting challenge that will earn him peanuts and gain him little additional respect.
He wanted Cotto, Pacquiao, Mayweather, or anyone that could bring huge sums of cash to the table. So he waited. He passed up a possible meeting with Paul Williams among other possible fights. Time kept ticking and Mosley remained on the shelf with no "next fight" in sight. Then came the announcements of Marquez-Mayweather and Cotto-Pacquiao, with Mosley being the fifth wheel. Still no "next fight", Mosley still wanted big money but he was running out of options.
Enter Andre Berto. A young, fast, talented welterweight with tons of upside and an already good reputation as a fighter with skill AND heart. Being that Mosley had no one else to go to, his people chose Berto as the "next fight".
So instead of getting a low risk/high reward or even high risk/high reward fight in the summer or the fall, Mosley is instead left with a high risk/low reward fight. Berto will not earn him nearly the money that the above mentioned fighters will, but he still represents a daunting challenge. In Andre Berto, Shane Mosley has chosen to fight someone younger, faster, and with quicker reflexes, for less money.
Okay no big deal right? Fight Berto in the fall, move on to one of the big dogs, right? Wrong. Because of HBO's budget problems this proposed fight has been pushed out to January. So that means, Shane Mosley will have been inactive for a full year and coming back in a high risk/low reward situation.
Even if Shane Mosley wins, like he is favored to do, what will be there for him?
Mayweather and Marquez will have moved on to bigger things and Pac and Cotto will too most likely. So again, Shane Mosley will be left as the odd man out, hoping to cash in before his career is over.
Let's also not forget that Shane will be 38 in September so if he fights Berto and waits around again, he will be nearly 40 years old. Now I know Hopkins has found the fountain of youth, but a guy like Shane Mosley does not fight like Hopkins and gets hit much more often. Shane has been in countless wars and already shows signs of speech problems. I mean, how much longer can he really go?
I see it like this:
IF Shane Mosley beats Berto, he will still not find that big money fight to cash in on.
IF Shane loses, he will either retire or fight once or twice more as a fairwell tour, because his days as an elite fighter will be over.
This is just my opinion. I'd like to mention that I'm a big Mosley fan. I wanted him to get big fights but he waited around too long and now he's stuck with Andre Berto, a daunting challenge that will earn him peanuts and gain him little additional respect.
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