By Eric Thomas: World Boxing Association welterweight champion Shane Mosley (46-5, 39 KO’s) made it clear how serious he is about his May 1st bout against unbeaten Floyd Mayweather Jr., saying “I don’t play. I give 100 percent. I’m going to give everything that I have. Mayweather knows that.” Mosley, now thirty-eight, has wanted to get a shot at a big money fight against Mayweather or Manny Pacquiao for the past few years but has been virtually ignored by them for some reason. It seemed like he was never going to get a shot against either of them until recently when Mayweather was unable to negotiate a fight with Pacquiao.

Mosley was supposed to be fighting WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto on January 30th, but when he pulled out of the fight weeks before that due to a catastrophic earthquake in Haiti, which killed some of his extended family members, it left Mosley without an opponent at the same time that Mayweather came available. Mayweather still likely wouldn’t have fought Mosley if not for Pacquiao choosing Joshua Clottey, a highly ranked welterweight, on March 13th. This put a lot of pressure on Mayweather to have to fight someone good or better. Mayweather then decided to take Mosley as an opponent finally after all this time.

Mosley sounds a little peeved at being ignored for so long, commenting “I was waiting for a year to fight either one of these guys. Did they care if I was going to wait? No. But it’s the fans who are going to benefit from this fight.”

Pacquiao and his management weren’t particularly interested in fighting Mosley either, even after he said he would be willing to drop down in weight and fight Pacquiao at a catch weight. Instead, Pacquiao’s team chose Miguel Cotto, a fighter who had been recently badly beaten up by Antonio Margarito in an 11th round stoppage in 2008.

Speaking about Mayweather, Mosley says “I’m going to knock him out. I can’t wait to get into the ring and dig my teeth into Mayweather. It’s going to be the fight of the decade.” Mosley stands to make a lot of money in the Mayweather fight after the pay per view numbers are in. And if Mosley can beat Mayweather, he will get an even bigger payday against Pacquiao if the Filipino fighter and his management are interested in pitting him against Mosley. Pacquiao has expressed interest in fighting Mosley, and even thinks he’s going to beat Mayweather on May 1st. A fight between Mosley and Pacquiao would be huge, and it’s a fight that would likely take place in the Dallas Cowboy Stadium, like the Pacquiao-Clottey fight.

Mosley makes it clear that he intends on giving Mayweather his first defeat, saying at the press conference “May 1 symbolizes something. After this fight, it is going to be clear. It is going to be the date of Mayweather’s first loss.”

Mayweather is going to have to step up to the plate and show more in the way of offensive work rate if he wants to beat Mosley. He isn’t going to beat Mosley by pot shotting all night long. Mayweather is going to have to mix it up and throw a lot of punches, something he hasn’t done a lot of in the past seven years.