ShareThisFormer lightweight, welterweight and junior middleweight champion Shane Mosley returned to fight in Southern California for the first time in eight years Saturday night and found a willing partner in Nicaragua's Ricardo Mayorga. Mosley, 37, has always shown tremendous courage inside the ring, especially accepting fights against boxers others fear or avoid. He could have ignored Vernon Forrest and Winky Wright, but Mosley let them slip into the door to elite status by accepting their challenges. When welterweights began avoiding Miguel Cotto, it was Mosley who tapped on Top Rank officials' shoulders to say: "Yoo-hoo, I'll fight Cotto." Now Mosley wants to fight WBA welterweight monster Antonio Margarito. That's what I mean. Mosley has no fear, but maybe he should. I'm not alone in saying that Mosley is one of the nicest guys in the brutal sport in which about five of its brethren die each year from punishment sustained in a bout. From his first year, Mosley has brought his eye-catching style of boxing at 100 mph. But that was back in 1992. Today, the speedster has slipped a bit and probably ramps it up to 85 mph. Now that's still good for most, but Mosley is an elite boxer. He's Hall of Fame stuff. After watching Mosley struggle with Mayorga for 12 rounds, it was apparent that it was going to take time to slip into "Sugar Shane" mode. Mayorga's quirky style has always proved perplexing for classic boxer-punchers. Mosley emerged victorious, but he may have hit the ceiling level for talent with Mayorga. Anybody bigger, younger or faster than the Nicaraguan is going to give the 2008 version of Mosley a lot of trouble. During the post-fight news conference, someone asked if he would fight WBC titleholder Andre Berto, who had just beaten Steve Forbes by decision. Immediately Mosley said he didn't want to fight one of the young guys. It's the big guys with the big names he's after. But most feel Mosley should hang up the gloves before he gets damaged. "I said I'm a warrior," said Mosley about his thrill-the-crowd style. "That's what the fans wanted to see." Most want to see Mosley retire healthy more than anything.(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
Mosley should call it quits while he's still healthy
Submitted by SHNS on Tue, 09/30/2008 - 16:18
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mosley
I can appreciate your article. I have been in and around boxing for over 25 years. Boxed for 13 years as an amatuer and had 119 fights. Boxing as we all know is a brutal business, especially professional boxing. I looked at Mosley's face after the Mayorga fight and could see the toll that the sport has taken on him. The wear and tear on fighters shows in their faces, not so much their bodies. Mosley is one of the finest conditioned fighters in the sport, but it has taken a toll on him. How much fighting he has left in him is not the question, but what are the debilitating effects of the sport on him ten years down the road. Warriors such as him, discover early in their careers that they can take a punch and it is sometime to their detriment. Having never been stopped can be just as bad as being kayoed a few times. He is smart enough to realize that he can't fight the young lions out there.
As a former amatuer fighter, I understand how tough it is to leave such a gratifying sport, hoepfully he will leave before it's too late...