By Lee Groves

Although Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Shane Mosley would be loathe to admit this given their current war of words, they are more alike than they care to admit.

Both are gym rats who boast a ferocious work ethic fueled by immense pride and single-minded focus.

Each is a future Hall of Famer who achieved success in multiple weight classes – Mosley in three and Mayweather in five – and though they apply it differently speed has always been their biggest asset.

They each went against conventional wisdom by prospering with family members serving as the head trainer. For years Mosley’s father Jack was at the helm while Mayweather first trained under father Floyd Sr. before turning to his uncle, Roger.

Also, each has demonstrated the versatility needed to depart from their base style. Mayweather, boxing’s version of a shutdown corner, flashed fight-ending power against Ricky Hatton and floored Juan Manuel Marquez in his most recent outing while Mosley is a self-professed “power boxer” that can box and punch with equal fluency.

Despite their similar backgrounds, Mosley-Mayweather is an attraction mostly because of their differences.

Besides the mesh of styles, there is a contrast when it comes to their public and in-ring personas. Most of the time “Sugar Shane’s” nature is as sweet as his nickname while “Money” can be charming one minute, irascible the next, and back again in a flash. Mosley speaks softly outside the ring only to wreak havoc inside it while the loquacious and volatile Mayweather turns cold, calculating and clinical once the bell sounds.

The biggest divide, however, is how the boxing public at large perceives the two men. Sure, there are those who will say Mosley is a juicer with a fake smile and that Mayweather is boxing’s faultless Second Coming, but those opinions are usually dismissed. In most quarters, Mosley enjoys a positive image while Mayweather does not.

Since the Masters was completed so recently, perhaps the reasons behind this phenomenon can best be explained in golf terms. Remember the 1996 romantic comedy “Tin Cup?” Picture Mosley as Kevin Costner’s character Roy McAvoy and Mayweather as Don Johnson’s David Simms.

For those who haven’t seen the movie – or are too young to remember it – one of the movie’s subplots was the caustic relationship between McAvoy and Simms. They played on the same University of Houston golf team but, for a variety of reasons, they veered off in different directions once they graduated. McAvoy began the film as the teaching pro at an armadillo-infested golf range in the West Texas desert while Simms was a wealthy tour pro as well as the boyfriend of the main love interest portrayed by Rene Russo.

The similarities between McAvoy/Mosley and Simms/Mayweather are not vocational but rather attitudinal.

McAvoy drew inspiration from taking chances no sane person would dare take. It didn’t matter to McAvoy whether he succeeded or failed; all that mattered was the adrenaline rush that comes from meeting the challenge.

“When a defining moment comes along,” McAvoy said, “you define the moment, or the moment defines you. I did not shrink from the challenge. I rose to it.”

Ignoring the consequences of the moment, McAvoy was consumed by the larger goal of achieving immortality. As McAvoy stood on the 18th tee with a better-than-average chance of winning the U.S. Open, McAvoy wasn’t satisfied with crafting a fairy-tale upset for the ages. He wanted to do it by shooting 10-under-par, something even Jack Nicklaus had never done.

Needing par to force a playoff and birdie to win, McAvoy chose to hit the one shot he couldn’t pull off in the two previous days, a 260-yard three-wood over water onto an elevated green. When his ball landed in the water, McAvoy’s pride overrode his brain and commanded him to conquer the challenge and not let the challenge conquer him.

Ball after ball landed in the drink but McAvoy refused to yield. Even his most ardent supporters begged him to abandon his quixotic quest. In the end McAvoy’s persistence paid off as he holed the shot with the final ball in his bag. His score for the hole: 12.

Russo’s character said it all when she exclaimed, “nobody’s going to remember who won, but everyone’s going to remember your 12. It’s immortal!”

Like McAvoy, Mosley chose to “grip it and rip it” rather than play it safe at several points of his career. The first such decision came after he surrendered his IBF lightweight title in 1999 due to weight-making difficulties. In an era where owning multiple-division title belts is as big a status symbol as the Escalade once was, it would have been easy for “Sugar Shane” to go up to 140 and seize a title from Terronn Millett (IBF), Sharmba Mitchell (WBA) or Randall Bailey (WBO).

Though a fight with WBC champ Kostya Tszyu would have been attractive and lucrative, Mosley wanted more – much more. The old-school Mosley skipped 140 altogether in search of further glory at welterweight – the next step up as far as the “original eight” weight classes.

After stopping Wilfredo Rivera and Willie Wise, Mosley took on WBC champion Oscar de la Hoya, who vaulted to the top of the pound-for-pound standings after a spectacular 1997 campaign and stayed there until he lost a hotly disputed majority decision to Felix Trinidad in September 1999.

Mosley was an underdog against the naturally bigger and longer “Golden Boy,” and many thought Mosley would shrink under the intense media glare and pressure that accompanies every De La Hoya fight. Given the chance to perform before his biggest worldwide audience, Mosley was rapturously happy.

“Finally,” he must have thought as he walked toward the ring with a megawatt smile, “I am where I’m supposed to be – and deserve to be.”

His blazing combinations combined with a stirring second-half surge allowed Mosley to capture a well-received split decision and assume the mantle of world’s best fighter. In a figurative sense, Mosley dug out his driver, took a huge swing and holed a double-eagle.

Following three knockouts of Antonio Diaz, Shannan Taylor and Adrian Stone, Mosley lined up his next bold stroke by fighting Vernon Forrest, an athletic six-footer who boasted a 34-0 record as well as the title of “boxing’s most avoided fighter.” After an agonizingly long wait, Forrest finally won the vacant IBF belt in his second attempt against Raul Frank.

Mosley had little to gain by fighting Forrest. The one thing that made the fight attractive – Forrest’s IBF belt – was stripped from him because “The Viper” dared to choose money and prestige instead of marking time with a mandatory challenger. Forrest was motivated by the prospect of upward mobility but for Mosley the reasoning was of a more noble nature; he felt it was his duty as the pound-for-pound champion to fight the best available challengers – no matter what the risk to his standing.

This time he paid a punishing price as Forrest scored a knockdown and battered him mercilessly en route to a lopsided unanimous decision.

Instead of licking his wounds and taking a tune-up or two, Mosley jumped back into the fire by fighting Forrest again six months later. While “Sugar Shane” fared somewhat better, Forrest came away with a second decision win.

Mosley regained a measure of what he lost by defeating De La Hoya in their September 2003 rematch to win his third divisional crown, though the 115-113 decision across the board inspired howls of protest from fans and calls for an investigation by “The Golden Boy.” Again, Mosley could have run off a string of ho-hum mandatory defenses but the McAvoy in him wouldn’t allow such a course of action.

For a second time Mosley followed up a victory over De La Hoya with a fight against the new “most avoided fighter.” This time the target was Ronald “Winky” Wright, a slick southpaw with a ramrod jab and an unquenchable desire to knock off big names for big money.

Mosley risked everything he regained in pursuit of a higher goal – three-belt unification. And just like the Forrest fights, Mosley plopped his ball into the lake as IBF champ Wright added Mosley’s WBC and WBA belts via unanimous decision. Eight months later – again without a warm-up fight – Mosley teed it up again against Wright and lost another decision, this time a majority one.

Mosley, now in his mid-30s, reassembled his reputation by beating two up-and-comers with excellent records (the 18-1 David Estrada and the 33-0-2 Jose Luis Cruz), a volcanic former 154-pound titlist in two crossroads encounters (Fernando Vargas) and a hungry southpaw spoiler (Luis Collazo). That earned Mosley another chance at a major, this time against undefeated WBA welterweight champion Miguel Cotto.

Though Mosley acquitted himself honorably and improbably finished stronger than the usually late-charging Puerto Rican, Mosley again ended up in the woods, this time by a close unanimous decision.

“Sugar Shane’s” sweetest shot may have come in his most recent fight against WBA welterweight champion Antonio Margarito, who was riding a tidal wave of popularity following his stirring 11th round knockout of Cotto the previous July. That victory allowed the “Tijuana Tornado” to sweep into the pound-for-pound ratings and he entered the bout a heavy favorite against the 37-year-old Mosley, who struggled mightily before stopping Ricardo Mayorga at 2:59 of the 12th in his last fight.

Knowing that a loss could finish him as a top attraction, Mosley clubbed Margarito without letup. A distracted, discouraged and disheveled Margarito fell to Mosley’s fury in nine sensational rounds.

The subsequent scandal surrounding Margarito’s hand wraps led to a lengthy suspension for the disgraced Mexican while Mosley unsuccessfully sought out superfights against Mayweather and Pacquiao before a series of circumstances eventually resulted in Mosley-Mayweather being made.

Every McAvoy needs someone like David Simms to ignite his passion while men like Simms derive pleasure from putting loose cannons like McAvoy in their place. All elite athletes require a measure of arrogance to be successful but the differences lie in how they express it and put it into action.

Simms was the picture of wealth and success as he pulled up to McAvoy’s Winnebago in his spiffy new automobile. Handsome and polished in his color-coordinated clothes, Simms was comfortable and content with his achievements, and rightly so. He was at the top of his game and he got there by being smart and by choosing his battles wisely.

One example: In a fit of testosterone-driven pride, McAvoy bet Simms that he could beat him in any game of his choice as long as it involved the seven-iron – McAvoy’s weapon of choice. At first, Simms refused but the taunts of McAvoy’s friends – and the chance to teach his antagonist a lesson – drew him in.

Simms’ terms were beguilingly easy – the man who could hit the seven-iron the farthest with one swing would win. McAvoy’s prize: $1,000 of Simms’ cash. Simms’ reward: McAvoy’s Cadillac convertible.

McAvoy thought he was a cinch to win, for “I hit the seven-iron like John Daly hits a three.” He then backed up his boasts as cracked a 227-yard rocket down the driving range. Surely Simms would lose, they all thought.

They thought wrong.

Cool as ice, Simms dropped his ball on the ground and turned his body away from the range, an action that baffled everyone. He then took aim at a desert highway that stretched for miles and smiled contentedly as his ball bounced out of sight.

The hustler had been hustled on a sucker bet and Simms couldn’t have been happier. While Simms eventually returned McAvoy’s car – he had no use for it anyway – he took smirking pleasure at the way he outsmarted his opponent.

Like Simms, Mayweather has the look of a winner – the finest clothes, a dazzling smile, a charisma that inspires a wide variety of emotions, an enviable array of worldly possessions and more money in the bank than most people can spend in five lifetimes.

And like Simms, Mayweather has made a career of using science and smarts to outclass and humiliate his more aggressive ring rivals. His sharp counters and array of defensive moves allows him to use his opponents’ momentum against themselves. The raw numbers speak loudly for him: 40-0 (25 KO) and an 18-0 record in championship fights.

An example of when caution works well: At Simms’ charity event, he and partner Craig Stadler were up two shots with three holes to play when Stadler plunked his ball in the water because McAvoy – Simms’ caddy – told Stadler he could hit that circus shot. Simms opted to lay up to preserve the lead but McAvoy took umbrage because “these fans didn’t pay 30 bucks to watch a tour star lay up on a short par five.”

“I’m sitting on a two-shot lead with three to go, and my partner’s in his pocket,” Simms reasoned. “Suddenly, par’s a good number. Gimme the seven iron.”

Simms then hit safely in front of the water to a smattering of polite applause. That applause turned into throaty roars when McAvoy, now the subject of a side bet between the golf pros, proceeded to hit the ball to within three feet of the pin. It won McAvoy the adulation of the crowd but it lost him his job as Simms’ caddy.

In terms of strategy Simms did the right thing while McAvoy paid the penalty for his shortsightedness. It also explains why Mosley is revered is Mayweather is reviled.

There comes a point in every athlete’s life when he must venture outside his comfort zone if he wants to earn the ultimate prize. At these times playing it safe can become a fatal flaw, not only in terms of achieving a short-term victory but also when it comes to crafting one’s legacy.

Fast-forward to the par-five 18th hole of the U.S. Open. Simms, down one shot, needs an eagle to win and a birdie to force a potential playoff. Simms, however, couldn’t summon the courage to risk everything for one of golf’s biggest prizes; so he lays up and takes himself out of contention. When gut-check time arrived, Simms wilted like a parched flower. Many say – and with justification – that Mayweather has done the same thing with his choice of opponents in recent years.

It hasn’t always been that way, though.

Contrary to popular belief, there was a time when Mayweather followed the McAvoy School of Career Planning. Many observers thought the 21-year-old “Pretty Boy” was taking on too much too soon when he signed to fight WBC super featherweight champion Genaro Hernandez, a respected 32-year-old veteran with 11 title fight victories under his belt. Mayweather showed everyone he was ready for prime time by winning every round and battering “Chicanito” into a corner retirement after eight rounds.

Just two months after that brilliant showing, Mayweather locked down Ring Magazine’s 1998 Fighter of the Year award by blowing out Angel Manfredy in two rounds. Following that overwhelming triumph Mayweather openly spoke of rewriting the history books by breaking Joe Louis’ record of 25 title defenses. He had the youth and the skills to do it had he wished, but weight issues eventually forced him to abandon that quest after eight defenses.

But before he departed 130, Mayweather again made a robust statement by meeting recently stripped IBF titlist Diego Corrales, a 5-11 string bean whose 33-0 record included 27 knockouts. The height and reach disadvantages didn’t scare Mayweather; in fact the threat Corrales posed inspired him to raise his game to a breathtaking level. In all Mayweather scored five resounding knockdowns en route to a 10th round TKO.

Emboldened, the ambitious Mayweather jumped into the deep water by taking on WBC lightweight champion Jose Luis Castillo in his first fight at 135. The hard-bitten Castillo was the most dangerous of a lightweight championship roster that included Leonard Dorin (WBA), Paul Spadafora (IBF) and Artur Grigorian (WBO) because of his physical strength and soul-sapping body attack.

Only a few fights in history have had the power to change a fighter’s reputation in a single night. Such was the case with Mayweather-Castillo I.

Mayweather revealed after the fight that he entered the ring with “two messed-up hands,” two broken ribs and a damaged rotator cuff but Castillo’s aggression also played a huge role in Mayweather’s struggles. Castillo out-landed Mayweather 203-157 overall and 173-66 in power punches – the only time in 29 CompuBox-tracked fights that “Money” was outperformed statistically.

The 116-111, 115-111 (twice) scorecards in Mayweather’s favor were seen by most as far too generous for the challenger. In fact, many believed Castillo had done more than enough to keep his belt.

The uninterrupted stream of Mayweather praise was changed forever and it was complicated further when he fired his father as trainer and labeled HBO’s six-fight, $12.5 million contract extension offer as “slave wages.” In the ring, he continued to excel as he defeated Castillo and Victoriano Sosa by decision and dangerous-punching South African Philip N’dou by scintillating seventh-round TKO.

Mayweather established a high bar for himself with his performances against Hernandez, Manfredy, Corrales and N’dou and he continued apace once he rose to 140 by dismantling DeMarcus Corley and Henry Bruseles. That set up a high-profile showdown with WBC junior welterweight titlist Arturo Gatti.

Against the too-tough-for-his-own-good Gatti, Mayweather was as superlative as a fighter could be. After flooring Gatti at the end of round one, he unleashed an endless string of sickeningly flush combinations to “Thunder’s” head and body. The carnage was such that trainer Buddy McGirt surrendered on his fighter’s behalf between rounds six and seven.

This victory – combined with Bernard Hopkins’ first loss to Jermain Taylor one week earlier – catapulted Mayweather to the top of the pound-for-pound standings. With plans to go up to 147 – boxing’s most talent-laden weight class – fans and media salivated at the prospect of Mayweather meeting and beating the division’s best.

“Against Gatti, I showed I can box, I showed my power, I showed my moving ability, I showed I can adapt to any style,” Mayweather told Ring Magazine. “Most of all, I showed I’m still undefeated. Don’t ever underestimate the power of being undefeated. After God and my family, staying undefeated is the most important thing in my life. It’s something I’m not giving up easy. No one who fights me, or is thinking about fighting me, should ever forget that.”

Many fans hoped Mayweather meant he would put forth the ultimate effort once his dates with destiny arrived. As it turned out, the quote was Mayweather’s way of saying he had nothing else to prove.

After Mayweather laid out his talents for all the world to see, he now was going to do a David Simms by laying up – at least in comparison to what he could have done. This was the day that Mayweather’s inner McAvoy died and when the public’s perception of him irreparably soured.

The rumblings began when Mayweather fought 36-year-old Sharmba Mitchell, who one year earlier was brutally stopped in three rounds by Kostya Tszyu and was engaging in only his second welterweight fight after a long career at 140. Predictably, Mayweather won every round and scored two knockdowns en route to a sixth round TKO.

His next fight against Zab Judah would have been a perfectly acceptable next step had it taken place in the autumn of 2005 – right around the time Mayweather fought Mitchell. That’s because in February Judah became a three-belt 147-pound champion by dethroning Cory Spinks in a career-best performance and in May he destroyed Cosme Rivera in three.

Unfortunately, Mayweather-Judah took place in April 2006, three months after Carlos Baldomir shockingly dethroned Judah. Worse yet, the prize at stake was the IBF belt that Baldomir was forced to vacate because he chose not to pay the sanctioning fee at the time he fought Judah.

Judah’s loss to Baldomir removed the luster from Mayweather’s decision victory and Baldomir’s stylistic limitations had the same effect when “Money” outclassed him over 12 monotonous rounds.

Adding to Mayweather’s image problems was his turning down a career-high $8 million purse to face WBO champion Antonio Margarito, a man many saw as a bigger and stronger version of Jose Luis Castillo and thus was perceived as the most serious threat to Mayweather’s undefeated record.

Instead of bringing out the big dog and slamming Margarito’s head 300 yards down the fairway, Mayweather took a mulligan by invoking an opt-out clause and paying Bob Arum $750,000 in order to secure more control over the choice of his next opponent. If Mayweather didn’t want to take on Margarito just yet, he had several other challenging substitutes waiting in the clubhouse such as Paul Williams, Kermit Cintron or Miguel Cotto – all of whom Mayweather would have been favored to beat.

But “Money” had his eyes trained elsewhere – specifically on Oscar de la Hoya’s May 6 fight with Ricardo Mayorga. That’s because Mayweather correctly felt that playing a twosome with the “Golden Boy” could net him a $20 million purse as well as a shortcut toward mainstream acceptance.

While that blueprint made excellent business sense, it left boxing fans feeling empty, unfulfilled – and angry. They felt Mayweather was scared to fight anyone with a remote chance of winning in favor of cannibalizing an aging icon’s star.

From Mayweather’s standpoint, the plan worked perfectly; Mayweather used the “24/7” series to build up his credentials as a villain, then defeated De La Hoya by a split decision that should have been unanimous. Best of all, the fight generated a record 2.4 million pay-per-view buys.

To the exasperation of all but his most rabid supporters, Mayweather again bypassed the welterweight field to fight a naturally smaller man in the unbeaten 140-pound champion Ricky Hatton, who Mayweather knew struggled badly in his only other 147-pound fight against Luis Collazo.

“He wants us to believe he’s the greatest fighter who ever lived, and then he does this?” his critics asked.

“Everyone knows he’ll beat Margarito, Cotto and Williams anyway, so why does he have to fight them?” his supporters countered. “They’re just looking to make their names off his.”

On fight night Mayweather was his usual dominant self as Hatton fell victim to “Money’s” vaunted “check hook” in the 11th.

After that, Mayweather wanted another big-money infusion against De La Hoya, but Mayweather, perhaps seeing that the rematch would be a box-office bust after fans and media panned it as a “business arrangement,” promptly removed himself from the fray by announcing a retirement that few believed would stick.

It didn’t.

Despite the hard feelings fans had for him, many rejoiced when Mayweather announced his return because boxing needed all the stars it could get. Their enthusiasm was tempered when the welterweight Mayweather picked Juan Manuel Marquez, a 36-year-old who spent the vast majority of his 16-year career at 126 and 130.

“Here we go again,” his critics sighed. “Floyd picking on another smaller, older guy who has no chance of winning.”

“He shouldn’t have to fight King Kong his first fight back,” his backers said.

Worse yet, Mayweather ignored the 144-pound weight limit – the one concession he had to fulfill to make the fight somewhat palatable to the public. After scaling 146, he blithely paid his $600,000 fine before systematically dismantling Marquez over 12 rounds. While Mayweather was in sensational form, the result was painfully predictable. Still, Mayweather’s selling power was such that the telecast drew more than 1 million buys.

Meanwhile, Manny Pacquiao had emerged as Mayweather’s successor to the pound-for-pound throne by doing it the McAvoy way – beating a succession of bigger opponents in continually escalating weight classes. Just when it appeared that Pacquiao-Mayweather would become a reality, a dispute over drug-testing protocols killed the match. Many interpreted the cancellation as Mayweather’s way of avoiding the risk Pacquiao posed to his undefeated record while others viewed it as confirmation that Pacquiao was juicing.

Names like Matthew Hatton and Paul Malignaggi were briefly floated but the boxing public and press told Mayweather in the strongest terms that they wouldn’t tolerate any more mulligans. Enter Mosley, who wanted to fight Mayweather so badly that he quickly accepted the Olympic-style drug testing procedures Pacquiao rejected.

This lengthy recap of both men’s careers was to set the table for answering a larger question: Why does the boxing public see Mosley and Mayweather so differently? One would think that Mayweather would be more celebrated given his perfect record, luminous skill set and anti-hero image while Mosley’s five losses and goody-two-shoes reputation would disqualify him as a serious player for the public’s affections.

In one word, the answer is “intangibles.”

Boxing fans love winners but they love winners that take chances even more. The greatest fighters in the sport’s history have one trait in common: The willingness to accept challenges even if that involves courting defeat.

Watching a top-flight boxer put himself and his reputation on the line against an ambitious challenger is among the most thrilling spectacles the sports world can offer. By fighting Forrest and Wright when none of his fellow elites would earned Mosley his stripes with the public because he put the best interests of boxing and its fans ahead of his own.

Sure, Mosley thought he could win but unlike Mayweather in recent years he didn’t stack the deck to make sure he would win. Like Roy McAvoy, Mosley not only accepted danger but he also went out of his way to seek it. While it is true that McAvoy and Mosley went down in flames from time to time, they also derived the maximum benefit from their successes.

Mayweather, on the other hand, squandered his chance to become his era’s defining fighter the way Sugar Ray Leonard, Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Robinson and Joe Louis had before him. Mayweather had a golden opportunity to create an unassailable case for top-shelf greatness once he rose to welterweight because the talent pool was so deep. For reasons only Mayweather knows for sure, he chose to play the mini-tours and the par-three courses instead of tackling St. Andrews, Pebble Beach and Bethpage Black.

The pound-for-pound throne may give its owner special bragging rights but it also demands a higher level of performance and responsibility. Not only must he win, he must do so in eye-catching fashion. Mayweather fulfilled that charge when he hammered Gatti into submission and Pacquiao has been living up to that standard for years.

Overly cautious scratch-and-sniff boxing against sub-par opposition while simultaneously claiming himself to be the greatest who ever lived simply won’t do for the fighter who is labeled boxing’s best and brightest.

By accepting a fight against Mosley, it is clear that Mayweather has gotten the message and for that he deserves praise. But if he is to regain a semblance of credibility in his pound-for-pound war against Pacquiao he not only must beat Mosley but also dominate him as he did Marquez. That’s a tall order given Mosley’s physicality and temperament but like it or not that’s the mandate he must fulfill.

Will Mayweather, after years of cushy competition, be able to re-ignite his inner McAvoy or will he turn into a shrinking Simms? Only Mosley, whose commitment to excellence is beyond reproach, can force Mayweather to confront that question head on and provide the world an answer.

If the answer is a resounding “yes,” then Mayweather will be fully equipped to take the lessons he learned from Mosley and apply them against his greatest challenge of date – Manny Pacquiao. If the answer is “no,” then the boxing ring will again prove its worth as a “chamber of truth.”

The stage is now set. All that’s left to do is watch Mayweather and Mosley tee it up – and then tee off.

E-mail Lee Groves at lgroves@hughes.net