Shane Mosley: The Sugar Of My Generation

By DABXBOMBER_165 - 12/29/2015 - Comments

mosleyBy Jacob Rodriguez: When one hears the alias “Sugar” being adopted by a fighter, immediately high levels of performance are expected of that fighter. Many boxers have adorned themselves with the moniker, but only few have lived up to the true essence of the name.

The “Sugar” from the 40s and 50s is often regarded by boxing experts as the greatest pound for pound boxer to have ever lived. “Sugar” Ray Robinson is the standard bearer by which all boxers considering the alias should live up to. After seeing Ray in one his amateur fights, sportswriter Jack Case described him as a “sweet fighter” and referred to him as “Sugar Ray”.

Boxing fans of the time were able to witness a rare combination of athleticism, grace, skill-fullness, and thunderous punching power that Ray Robinson used to bring to life “the sweet science” as he defeated great boxers like Lamotta, Fulmer, Armstrong, and Gavilan.

In the 70s and 80s the “boxing gods” found favor with boxing fans and blessed them with a great talent that would once again don the alias “Sugar”. Ray Leonard would prove that he was worthy of wearing the name “Sugar” as his “god like” boxing skills allowed him to amass a professional boxing record of 36 wins, 3 losses, 1 draw with 25 KOs, all the while defeating great boxers like Benitez, Duran, Hearns, and Haggler. Leonard adapted the name “Sugar” for his admiration of Ray Robinson; he certainly proved worthy of wearing it.

The first time I ever dedicated any serious time to watching a boxing match I was nine years old. It was an epic fight between “Sugar” Ray Leonard and “Marvelous” Marvin Hagler. I was hooked; I would watch boxing whenever I could, when I could. By the mid 90s, I joined the Army, and started a family. My wife would open up our foldable dinner tables, I would sit the babies in their high chairs, she would hand me the remote, and I taught them to watch boxing with the same passion as I did when I was a young boy. USA’s Tuesday Night Fights, ESPN’s Friday Night fights, HBO, and ShowTime provided the fix to our pugilism addiction. An addiction that was and still is insatiable, I had turned my whole family into boxing fanatics. During that time “You Tube” wasn’t even a thought, so boxing junkies like us would watch vintage fights on the greatest sports channel ever created; ESPN Classic. This was how I was exposed to the greatness that was “Sugar” Ray Robinson and “Sugar” Ray Leonard.  I watched replays of their fights both “Sugars’” would leave me in a trance like state as I watched their rhythmic footwork dance circles around opponents only to suddenly be awakened from that trance by a powerful hook or an uppercut that would send their opponents spiraling towards the canvas. I admired and revered both “Sugar” Ray Robinson and Leonard.

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This brings us to the “Sugar” of my generation. As Ray Leonard was retiring from boxing, a young rising star would again adapt the name “Sugar”, and like his predecessors, he would prove to posses the same talent and skill worthy to wear the name that is reserved for boxing royalty; “Sugar”.

Now, I must admit, I was skeptical and even critical of Shane Mosley adopting the name “Sugar”. How dare he? Who was Shane Mosley? What had he accomplished? Did he even know who were the “Real Sugars”, and their accomplishments? Boxing fans of my generation were not ready to accept or even fathom another boxer wearing the name “Sugar”. But, Sugar Shane knew exactly who they were, and with the same arrogance and confidence incumbent of a “Sugar”, Shane would go on to achieve boxing greatness.

“Sugar” Shane Mosely’s love with the sport started when he was a young boy watching his dad spar professionals at a local gym. Trained by his father Jack Mosely, Shane would go on to be an accomplished amateur boxer with an impressive record of 250 wins and 16 loses. Young Shane would earn amateur victories over Stevie Johnston and the great Oscar De la Hoya. But, it was his loss to Vernon Forrest in the 1992 Olympic trials that would eventually make him unknown to fight fans early in his career and test his legacy later down the road.

“Sugar” Shane’s pro debut was on February 11th 1993 and he earned his first professional victory over Greg Puente by way of KO. He would go on to KO his next 8 opponents. Shane would earn victories over 22 other opponents knocking out 20 of them before he got a shot at a world champion. He finally earned his shot at a world title on August 2, 1997 versus then lightweight title holder Philip Holiday. Although Holiday was undefeated, Mosley’s speed and talent would earn him a unanimous decision and the IBF World Lightweight Title.

Along this same timeline his amateur rival Oscar De La Hoya had already earned world titles in four different weight classes and was about to fight the famous Hector “Macho” Camacho. Earning Olympic gold at the 92 games Oscar was quickly groomed as the poster boy of boxing and his career was accelerated far faster than Shane’s.

Even though Shane was a world champion, outside of hardcore boxing enthusiast he was still virtually unknown to most boxing fans. In contrast to the “Sugars” that preceded him, Shane failed to capture the limelight of boxing superstardom that was being monopolized by popular fighters like Oscar De La Hoya and Felix ”Tito” Trinidad. But, Shane would soon make his mark on the boxing scene and thrill fans with the same speed, athleticism, and KO power of the “Sugars” from old.

After earning the IBF World Lightweight Title, Shane would go on to successfully defend it eight times all by way of knockout. In that mix of defenses he would defeat notable opposition such as Jesse James Leija, John John Molina and Wilfredo Ruiz. But none of these names carried the star power Shane needed to elevate himself amongst boxing’s best. However, in the mist of these title defenses Shane would demonstrate a mastery of the “Sweet science”. He was slowly exposing boxing fans to a rare combination of speed and agility coupled with exceptional punching power. Shane had a text book way of “sitting” on his punches and torquing his body to generate force in his punches, which left opponents feeling as if they got hit by a “mack” truck. “Sugar” Shane Mosley was at the cusp of achieving boxing glory and will soon have his “coming out party”.

Having accomplished all that he could at lightweight, Shane moved up to welterweight. The welterweight division of the late 90s and early 00s was loaded with boxing’s elite. A division full of gifted boxers such as Oscar De La Hoya, Felix Trinidad, Ricardo Mayorga, Zab Judah, Luis Collazo, Miguel Cotto, Vernon Forrest, Carlos Baldomir, Floyd Mayweather Jr, and Antonio Margarito. This was the division that had the star-studded talent pool that “Sugar’ needed to elevate his “stock value” in boxing. “Sugar” would go on to fight seven of the fighters mentioned above.

Mosley would fight three fights at welter weight against average opposition; the only decent challenge there was Wilfredo Rivera who held a record of 30-3-1. He would win all of these fights by way of stoppage. This set the stage for a world title showdown against his childhood opponent Oscar De La Hoya; Mosley had finally arrived. Most within the boxing community had already regarded him as a great talent with talks of being considered the best pound for pound fighter that year, but that was dependent on him conquering the obstacle ahead; that obstacle had a name, and it was Oscar De La Hoya. De La Hoya was no rookie to big prize fights and at this point in his career was considered unbeatable and at the top of boxing’s food chain. The only blemish on the “Golden Boy’s” record was a questionable defeat at the hands of Puerto Rican superstar Felix Trinidad. In the eyes of many, Oscar De La Hoya won that fight as he treated Trinidad to a one-sided boxing clinic, at least through the first six rounds, and was still regarded as an undefeated fighter. Mosley boasted a perfect record of 34-0 with 32 knock outs to his credit; a 94% KO ratio. This served as no threat to Oscar; he proved to have a strong chin and boxed really well against power punchers. However, Oscar had not faced a fighter with a skill set as complete as Mosley’s. This super fight had it all; it had two great fighters at the top of their careers, both fighters had history in the amateurs, and boxing fans were about to be treated to a match that captured the same allure of boxing’s welterweight matches of the 80s . The mega fight was named “The Destiny” and it was the perfect platform for Mosley to show the world that he was just as worthy of superstardom as the “Sugars” that preceded him.

The day of the fight was here. After the ring announcements the bell went off signaling the start of this epic match. Mosley started off strong in the first round. However, Oscar d De La Hoya made the necessary adjustments to Mosley’s onslaught and every round after that was close enough to go either way. Going into the fifth round Jack Mosley would motivate his son by reminding him that this was the moment that he had been training for his whole life, and it was time to shine. Mosley heeded his father’s advice and employed every skill in his arsenal and in the ninth round the world was introduced to the talent that was “Sugar” Shane Mosley. After the ninth round Mosley’s speed and punching power significantly slowed De La Hoya down. Going into the final round both corners urged their fighters to fight out the last round. Both fighters came out to answer the bell and collided in the middle of the ring like two battering rams trying to establish dominance over their territory. They stood toe to toe and traded punches for the entirety of the final round. Two warriors were fighting for boxing glory. One was fighting to preserve his legacy and the other was fighting to cement it. The final round of Mosley vs De La Hoya was one for the ages and the sold out crowd at the Staples Center stood to their feet and applauded both fighters. Mosley swept the championship rounds defeating De La Hoya in a split decision. Like his predecessors, Mosley displayed a mastery of the “sweet science” and a warrior’s courage as he put risk above reward in order to prove that he belonged among the world’s best. Jim Brown’s final comment after the fight was, “if the world didn’t know who “Sugar” Shane Mosley was; they do now”.

With his victory over De La Hoya “Sugar” Shane Mosley was fire hot, and the boxing world couldn’t get enough. All of sudden when boxing experts talked about speed, “Sugar” Shane was the go to reference. When they talked about athleticism and footwork, they used “Shane” as an example. When they talked about delivering punching power by exploding into an opponent; Shane was the “gold standard”. Sugar was on top of the boxing world and the years 2000 and 2001 the boxing accolades would belong to “Sugar” Shane. That year Mosely was named World Boxing Hall of Fame Fighter of the Year for 2000.The Ring Magazine ranked Mosley as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world in 2000 and 2001. The Ring Magazine also ranked Mosley as the 13th greatest lightweight of all-time in 2001.

Mosley would go on to successfully defend the welterweight title three times and a fourth title defense was set with Vernon Forrest. If “Sugar” Shane was obscured by the limelight that Oscar De La Hoya consumed early in his career, than Vernon Forrest was probably in the abyss of the “boxing sea”. Again, people within the boxing community knew who Vernon Forrest was, but he didn’t have the level of recognition that his fellow boxers reveled in. He was a technical and methodical fighter and his fights lacked the excitement that appealed to casual fight fans.

Mosley vs Forrest was set for January 26, 2002. Leading up to the fight the boxing community and fight fans had given Vernon no chance of beating “Sugar”. Although Forrest had amassed a respectable 35-0 record he wasn’t considered nearly as gifted as Mosley, and had fought no major names within those 35 fights. Mosley’s speed, explosive punching power, and the ability to attack was considered by many to much for Vernon to contend with. Sure, Vernon had beaten Mosley in the amateur ranks, but this was professional prize fighting and many felt that Vernon didn’t stand a chance.

In the opening round Mosley tried to impose his physicality on Vernon by using his speed and combination attacks to overwhelm Forrest; all the mean while, Forrest was methodically utilizing his jab and creating separation. In the second round Forrest kept his jab in Mosley’s face and kept him at the end of his long reach, when all of sudden the unthinkable happened and “Sugar” was rocked by a long right hand that sent him flailing into the ropes, an uppercut would send Shane to the canvas and for the next few rounds he struggled to get his legs under him. Vernon stuck to his game plan and Mosley would trail the rest of the fight losing by unanimous decision and suffering the first defeat of his professional career. Six months later Mosley immediately rematches Vernon Forrest, and would too lose that fight via unanimous decision.

From here on out “Sugar” Shane’s boxing career would resemble a roller coaster ride at a famous theme park experiencing thrilling highs and crashing lows. He would beat Oscar De La Hoya a second time, capturing the world super welter weight title only to suffer back to back loses to “Winky” Wright. He would then earn stunning wins over Fernando Vargas, drop back down in weight to capture the welterweight title from a formidable opponent in Luis Collazo, only to lose it to a younger and slicker Miguel Cotto. He would defeat both Ricard Mayorga and Antonio Margarito by KO to capture the WBA Intercontinental and World titles and then lose a non title fight to Floyd Mayweather Jr. After the Mayweather fight, Shane would fail to capture wins over elite competition and suffer loses to Manny Pacquiao and Saul Alvarez.

Mosley retired after the Saul Alvarez fight and in his post fight interview with Larry Merchant he said, “When the kids start to beat you up, you might have to start promoting.” Mosley was 40 at the time and was coming to terms with the fact that boxing is young man’s sport. However, Mosley would crave another shot at boxing stardom and attempt a comeback. Mosley found himself in the gym training, he felt good, looked well, and felt there was no reason why he couldn’t stage a successful comeback. In 2013 Mosley announced that he was coming out of retirement to fight Pablo Caesar Cano for the vacant WBC International welterweight championship an would go on to defeat Cano . He would lose the world title to Anthony Mundine, and retire from boxing again. Mosely would comeback out of retirement for a second time and fight a second fight with Ricardo Mayorga and then take on Patrick Lopez earning both victories by KO.

It is my opinion that the nickname “Sugar” cannot be measured by wins and loses. The name “Sugar” doesn’t mean that the fighter is invisible or immune to defeat and adversity. The three “Sugars” had vastly different careers. All three suffered defeats and all three rebounded with wins fighting the best fighters of their time. Robinson cemented his legacy with 200 bouts and an impressive record of 173W-19L-6D with 108 Kos. Leonard was an Olympic gold medalist and dazzled fans with exciting fights and wins over arguably the best welterweights of any generation past or present.

Mosley’s professional career has spanned over 23 years and is still ongoing. In that time he has fought 60 bouts and holds an excellent record of 49W-9L-1D with 41 Kos. So where does Mosley fit in amongst the “Sugars” of the past? He didn’t attain the level of popularity that Robinson had. He wasn’t the “media darling” that was Leonard. But, that’s not the reason why those guys were referred to as “Sugar”. A boxer that dons the name “Sugar” brings to life the “Sweet Science” by mesmerizing fans with speed, fancy footwork, and power punching, all the while fighting the toughest and best competition of their time. Like his predecessors “Sugar” Shane Mosley cemented his legacy in the boxing world by fighting the best of his time and doing so in an exciting manner with the sweetness of “Sugar”; both in victory and in defeat. I don’t know when the boxing gods will bless fight fans again with another boxing talent that will captivate us with the “sweet” boxing skills worthy of such a fight name. But, I can say that I personally witnessed the “Sugar” of my generation, and what a sweet ride it was.



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