Mosley offered Khan fight at a 145 pound catchweight; also offered Saul Alvarez bout

By Boxing News - 01/26/2012 - Comments

Image: Mosley offered Khan fight at a 145 pound catchweight; also offered Saul Alvarez boutBy William Mackay: 40-year-old Shane Mosley (46-7-1, 39 KO’s) was approached by Golden Boy Promotions for a fight between him and former IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (26-2, 18 KO’s) but at a catchweight of 145 pounds, according to Dan Rafael of ESPN.

In addition to the Khan fight, Mosley was also offered a bout against WBC light middleweight champion Saul Alvarez (39-0-1, 29 KO’s). The Khan fight was offered after the Alvarez fight, which suggests that Golden Boy is more interested in using Mosley for Khan right now if Khan can’t get a rematch with Lamont Peterson in May.

Mosley told ESPN “They offered me a fight with Canelo and I was like, ‘Yeah, I’ll take it. Then they came back to me and said, ‘What about Amir Khan?”

Mosley wouldn’t mind fighting Khan but he’s not interested in fighting Khan at a catchweight of 145lbs. He would consider taking the fight at 147lbs but prefers 149 to 150. Khan and Golden Boy likely won’t go for anything over 147 if they’re even willing to fight at 147.

Mosley would likely be weakened badly if he fought at 145lbs, but perhaps that’s the whole idea. Golden Boy doesn’t want Khan to get beat again and he needs to add a scalp with a big name like Mosley’s in order to capture fan appeal in the United States. They want Khan to become popular enough to where a fight between him and Floyd Mayweather Jr. would be a big event in the U.S. Mosley hasn’t won a fight in three years and has a 0-2-1 record in his last three fights. Mosley would fit the profile perfectly for what Khan and Golden need right now – an older fighter with a name but not enough left to beat Khan.

Mosley still prefers a bout against Alvarez, but Golden Boy will likely be the one that decides which fighter they want Mosley to fight. If they want him badly enough to fight Khan, then Mosley will be given a big enough offer for him change his mind about wanting to fight him. But I wonder if the money would be good enough for Mosley to agree to an energy draining 145 pound catchweight. That would be like taking an older fighter and then stunning him with a bop to the head and then sending him out to fight the highly hyped but badly flawed Khan to look good against.

In the end, Peterson will likely accept the big money offer so that Mosley won’t be needed for Khan but it does give you a good glimpse of the future matchmaking for Khan once he gets past the Peterson rematch. They’re not going to match Khan with anyone that can beat him and it they were probably shocked at what the light hitting Peterson was able to do to Khan because he was expected to lose badly to Khan.

It’s also more than a little disappointing that Alvarez is still being matched against weak opposition. He’s faced Matthew Hatton, Ryan Rhodes and Kermit Cintron. Mosley would fit in with that bunch in that he wouldn’t have enough left to beat Alvarez. It looks like Golden Boy isn’t in any rush to match Alvarez up with James Kirkland or Vanes Martirosyan.



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