By Dan Ambrose: Soon to be 40-year-old Shane Mosley (46-7-1, 39 KO’s) is now a promotional free agent after Top Rank opted not to exercise their contractual option on him after Mosley was easily beaten in a lopsided 12 round unanimous decision to Manny Pacquiao in May. Mosley fought poorly against Pacquiao, as he did as well in his recent fights against Sergio Mora and Floyd Mayweather Jr.

According to ESPN, Bob Arum of Top Rank says he doesn’t have anything for Mosley at this time, which is why he’s decided not to keep him. It’s not surprising, really, because Mosley has looked almost paralyzed in the ring in his last three fights and Arum might not want to take a chance that Mosley would put in another bad performance if he were to match him against some of his up and coming welterweight contenders like Mike Jones.

Thus far, Mosley isn’t saying anything about whether he’ll retire or keep fighting on. However, if Mosley does decide to keep fighting it’s likely that he’ll take a much smaller payday than what he’s been getting. Mosley hasn’t won a fight in over two years since his victory over Antonio Margarito in January 2009. That’s a long time for a boxer to go without a victory, especially one like Mosley who has always been one of the best fighters in the world. If he does decide to continue fighting, Mosley’s chances of getting another title shot would seem to be remote unless someone like WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan showed interest in fighting Mosley. I don’t think it would be possible for Mosley to take off enough weight to get down to the 140 pound light welterweight limit, though.