By John F. McKenna (McJack): It is always painful to watch the downward progression of a once great fighter. Forty one year old former three division champion Shane Mosley (46-7-1, 39 KO’s) is no exception. Unfortunately a fighter is always the last one to acknowledge that he has lost the skills that once made made him a great fighter.
“Sugar” Shane has not been victorious in his last three fights. Shane was soundly thrashed when he took on the undefeated superstar World Boxing Council (WBC) welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr (42-0, 26 KO’S) in May of 2010. In September 2010 Mosley fought to a draw against Sergio Mora (23-2-2, 7 KO’s). In May 2011 Shane was again soundly thrashed by World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao (54-3-2, 38 KO’s).
In the Pacquiao fight Mosley was floored in the 3rd round and elected not to engage the “Pacman” for the rest of the fight. At one point Mosley asked his trainer Nazim Richardson to stop the fight. That should have been a clue to Shane that he should have gotten out of the fight game. In his heyday it would have been unthinkable for this once proud warrior to ask his trainer to stop a fight because he did not want to continue.
It is ironic that prior to the deal for Mosley to fight Pacquiao, both trainer Freddie Roach and Manny had to be talked into taking the fight against “Sugar Shane” by Top Rank CEO Bob Arum. “Uncle” Bob knew that with Mosley’s name and given enough time he would be able to promote the fight. He was right. The fight did approximately 1.3 million Pay Per View (PPV) buys. It was the boxing fans who were shortchanged because the fight was not the least bit competitive.
Now Mosley will be trotted out again because of his name to be used as nothing more than a stepping stone for rising Mexican star WBC light middleweight champion Saul Alvarez (39-0-1, 29 KO’s). The fight will be held at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas on May 5 and will be on the undercard of the Floyd Mayweather Jr – Miguel Cotto matchup.
Predictably the fight will receive a huge buildup and Mosley will be sacrificed to enhance the burgeoning career of Alvarez. It is doubtful that if Saul’s handlers thought that Mosley had a real chance of victory they would allow him anywhere near their hoped for future cash cow.
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