Shane Mosley: “I definitely, definitely want Mayweather”

By Boxing News - 11/08/2007 - Comments

According to Sentanta Sports, Shane Mosley (44-4, 37 KOs) wants to fight Floyd Mayweather next, saying “I definitely, definitely want Mayweather.” For most, this is a welcome signal from Mosley, 36, as he’s shown little desire in the past with mixing it up with Mayweather. For whatever reason, Mosely has finally decided to man up and start taking on real challenges, instead of the soft opposition, such as Fernando Vargas, Luis Collazo, David Estrada, and Jose Luis Cruz, that Mosley has feasted on in the past two years.

At 36, Mosley can’t afford to put off tough challenges any longer, as he’s nearing the end of his career and doesn’t have more than a couple good fights in him from what I can see of him. But, of course, for Mosely to get a shot at Mayweather (if Floyd is even interested), he’ll have to get by Miguel Cotto on Saturday night at New York’s Madison Square Garden.

To be sure, most sports writers are predicting a Cotto victory, so Mosely’s going to have his work cut out for him against the younger fighter. Though, Mosely will have one factor in his favor – his size advantage. At 5’9″, Mosley is two inches taller and appears to have the longer reach as well. In the past, Mosley has only lost to taller fighters than him, while completely dominating shorter fighters or those of equal height.

Though Cotto has done well going against taller fighters, he’s fought much less talented opponents in Mosley. If Mosley can get by Cotto, a bout with Mayweather would no doubt be a huge fight, almost guaranteeing a tremendous payday for both of the fighters. In terms of boxing skills, Mosley would seem to be the better opponent for Mayweather than the slower, shorter Cotto or the height-limited Ricky Hatton.

For this reason, Mayweather may not be particularly interested in a bout with Mosley, who make for a tough bout for the hit & run artist. Mayweather doesn’t like to mix it up with his opponents, instead opting to pot-shotting and running. Mosley, however, would make it very difficult for him to use this style, as Mosely would counter him with combinations and use his superior handspeed to rip off fast combinations at close quarters.