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It should have happened a long time ago. The Floyd Mayweather-Shane Mosley dream match up should have happened in 1999. Molsey had been the IBF 135 pound champ since he had beaten Phillip Holiday in 1997 and Mayweather had already established his credentials as one of the top pound for pound fighters in the sport with his disdainful destruction of Genaro Hernandez and then his two round dismantling of the streaking Angel Manfredy. Mosley was looking for a big fight that would earn him the recognition and financial rewards that his talent and performances merited. Mayweather’s camp was too.
Even his father who was still working with him at the time stated, “We shouldn’t have fought Manfredy so soon, now there’s no one left to fight.” There was one match up and it was a dream bout at 135 pounds between Mayweather and Mosley. The problem was that Mosley had fought as an amateur at 139 pounds and was having trouble making the 135 limit. So instead of moving up to 140 pounds where he probably would have dominated the division, Sugar Shane pulled a Roberto Duran and jumped into the 147 pound division in search of a bout with the Golden Boy and won the WBC welterweight title in June of 2000 with a decision victory over De La Hoya.
It appeared as though Mosley’s career might just follow the path of the other great Sugars, but after a trio of wins versus the ordinary Adrian Stone, Shannon Taylor, and Antonio Diaz, Sugar Shane lost two fights to Vernon Forrest and his career went way off track and even a gift decision against De La Hoya in their 2003 rematch couldn’t put it back on track. [details]
Even his father who was still working with him at the time stated, “We shouldn’t have fought Manfredy so soon, now there’s no one left to fight.” There was one match up and it was a dream bout at 135 pounds between Mayweather and Mosley. The problem was that Mosley had fought as an amateur at 139 pounds and was having trouble making the 135 limit. So instead of moving up to 140 pounds where he probably would have dominated the division, Sugar Shane pulled a Roberto Duran and jumped into the 147 pound division in search of a bout with the Golden Boy and won the WBC welterweight title in June of 2000 with a decision victory over De La Hoya.
It appeared as though Mosley’s career might just follow the path of the other great Sugars, but after a trio of wins versus the ordinary Adrian Stone, Shannon Taylor, and Antonio Diaz, Sugar Shane lost two fights to Vernon Forrest and his career went way off track and even a gift decision against De La Hoya in their 2003 rematch couldn’t put it back on track. [details]
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