By Jason Kim: This is the moment of truth for 39-year-old Shane Mosley (46-6, 39 KO’s) in his fight this Saturday night against former World Boxing Council junior middleweight champion Sergio “The Latin Snake” Mora (22-1-1, 6 KO’s) at the Staples Center, in Los Angeles, California. Mosley, at one time considered to be the best fighter in all of boxing, has now lost two out of his last four fights and is facing a huge test in the younger 29-year-old Mora. If Mosley loses this fight, he’s going to have to face some ugly truths about what he has left in the tank.

This is a fight that a younger Mosley would have likely easily have won. But that Mosley no longer exists. Now we have a fighter that is struggling to fight hard beyond the 2nd round, as was the case in Mosley’s near shut out decision loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. last May. It wasn’t just that fight in which Mosley struggled. He also looked poor and tired in his 12th round knockout win over a shot Ricardo Mayorga in September 2008.

Mosley got the knockout in the last seconds of the fight, but he was beaten to the punch and dominated for most of the fight by Mayorga. The fight with Margarito was a different story for Mosley because he was able to slow the fight down enough by clinching to keep from tiring. Clinching probably won’t be a possibility with Mora, though, because he won’t just stand there and let Mosley wrap his arms around him for needed rest breaks.

Mora is going to keep jabbing and moving the entire fight and will make Mosley use his old legs to get around the ring. If Mosley is going to win this fight, he’s going to have to earn the win by working hard the entire fight. He can’t just win the bout by a controversial decision if he wants to keep alive for big money fights against stars like Miguel Cotto and Manny Pacquiao. Those guys fight for Top Rank, and for Mosley to get a chance at either of them, he has to look nothing short of sensational in beating Mora on Saturday night.

One good thing that Mosley has going for him now is that Floyd Mayweather Jr. has run into some big problems with his life recently. This could make it hard for him to get a fight with Pacquiao in the near future. In this case, Mosley would be the next best guy out there for either Cotto or Pacquiao to fight unless Arum want to keep Cotto and Pacquiao fighting nothing but in house fighters for the rest of their careers.