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Steve Bunce: Shane Mosley was special but one more fight would risk his status

Mosley was the best, but is now 43 and desperate to get in the ring

Steve Bunce
Wednesday 15 April 2015 23:07 BST
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Shane Mosley (left) came close to knocking out Floyd Mayweather in 2010
Shane Mosley (left) came close to knocking out Floyd Mayweather in 2010

A woman called Denise is on reception at the studio in west London where, for the last four years, she has sat and watched boxers of all shapes and sizes arrive to sit on the sofa for my weekly BoxNation show.

Joe Calzaghe, Amir Khan, James DeGale, George Groves, Anthony Joshua, Nicola Adams and hundreds of other fighters have wandered in under her gaze without comment. Last Friday Shane Mosley arrived and Denise pulled me aside and said: “Steve, he’s a little bit special, I can tell.” He certainly is.

Mosley was the best fighter in the world in 2000 when he took on his boyhood friend and rival Oscar De La Hoya for the world welterweight title. Mosley won, remained unbeaten and was handed the pound-for-pound title, which has no gaudy belt but means far more.

“I guess right then I was the best,” Mosley told me at the weekend, during a flash visit to London. “I had known Oscar since I was about 10, we had been at the 1992 Olympic trials, we had been in gyms together; he was boxing’s No 1 fighter and I beat him. Yep, I guess I was the best.”

Mosley had reigned as lightweight champion from 1997 until 1999, then gained nearly a stone and fought De La Hoya at the start of arguably boxing’s most amazing sequence of fights. Mosley, now 43 and still desperate to get in the ring, went on a run of title fights that included a rematch victory over De La Hoya and stunning wins against the odds in fights with Ricardo Mayorga and Antonio Margarito.

It was in the hours before the fight with Margarito, which took place in front of over 20,000 fans in Los Angeles, that a disgraceful discovery took place when it was found that the Mexican’s hand wraps had been coated and were now hard with plaster of Paris.

It was 2009, Mosley was 37 and Margarito had just knocked out and destroyed Miguel Cotto, who had entered the ring unbeaten after 32 fights. Mosley, who had lost on points over 12 rounds to Cotto, was a massive underdog and people feared for his health.

In a move that is still hard to accept, Margarito had to change bandages – the illegal ones were confiscated by Mosley’s people and handed to the local commission – but the fight went ahead. “There was no way that it could have been called off – the venue was packed with his Mexican fans and my people from Los Angeles – it was my home town and I would have fought him with the concrete in his wraps.” It was Mosley’s finest night and Margarito was destroyed in nine bloody rounds.

Mosley defeated De La Hoya for a second time in 2003

Mosley was then matched against Floyd Mayweather, who had sensibly avoided fighting Margarito, in a fight that only had the one highlight in round two when Mayweather’s legs buckled and he had to hold to clear his head after a right connected cleanly with his chin. “I thought, ‘Damn, I’m gonna knock Floyd out.’ But he ran from that moment,” said Mosley, who was just a few months shy of his 39th birthday. There were even screams of “fix” after Mosley failed to nail him again, but the truth is that his old legs had started to betray him.

He met Mayweather in 2010, the peak of little Floyd’s power and a long way from Mosley’s best years. “I would have liked to have shared the ring with Mayweather at another time,” Mosley said. He is not a man to make claims. In 2011 Mosley fought Manny Pacquiao and was dropped heavily and hurt in the third round, but was able to move and survive the full 12 rounds.

“I keep thinking that if I could survive against Pacquiao, and I was real hurt, then Mayweather will be able to survive if Pacquiao hurts him,” Mosley told me. “Mayweather is good at not getting hurt – I couldn’t get him again and I’m good at taking care of business and knocking out people that I catch.” Mosley has stopped or knocked 39 of the 47 men that he beat.

“I never missed anybody, never said no to a hard fight,” added Mosley. “I kept on meeting and beating unbeaten fighters, kept on moving up and so far I have won world titles at three different weights. It might not be over.” During his London stay he has planned a series of sparring sessions to see just what he has left; he will fight again if the offer makes sense and that is a pity.

Outside the ropes Mosley has taken the occasional kicking. His wife and former manager, Jin, was in charge of a brutal divorce and split in 2011, and in 2003 he was on the list of named and shamed athletes when the Balco files were released. Mosley maintains his innocence, the blame was taken by a conditioner and Mosley continued to fight. The Balco smear remains a blot on a glittering career of a fighter who is too often neglected when people compile lists of greats, which is annoying. Mosley was very, very special, and even Denise knew it.

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