The biggest fight so far for 2010 has been sealed. Floyd Mayweather Jr, the consensus pound-for-pound number two fighter on the planet, has signed on to fight Shane Mosley, The Ring’s number one-ranked welterweight on May 1, 2010 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
The widespread disappointment with the collapse of Pacquiao/Mayweather has been replaced by a feeling of palpable excitement for this fight and to a lesser extent Pacquiao-Clottey (March 13, 2010 at Cowboys Arena, Dallas). While Pacquiao/Mayweather would have been the biggest fight bar none in boxing, Mosley-Mayweather looms as an acceptable alternative.
This early Mayweather is the favorite to win against Mosley, though if you go by their most recent opposition it is Shane who has won the tougher fights.
“Sugar” Shane Mosley (46-5, 39 KOs) of Pomona, California poses the biggest challenge that Floyd Mayweather Jr has ever faced in his career. Mosley (38)has the speed, boxing skills, experience, toughness and one-punch knockout power to seriously threaten Mayweather’s undefeated record like never before.
Mayweather (40-0, 25 KOs) has faced big punchers before in Corrales (†) and Gatti (†) both of whom have left us (may they rest in peace), but they did not possess speed anywhere near that of Mosley’s. While Floyd (32) has in his r?sum? Zab Judah who resembles Mosley the most in terms of speed and power, Mosley should offer far more resilience and extend Floyd so much further than the four rounds of difficulties Zab managed to give him.
If age is going to be a factor in this fight, Shane has so far not shown his 38 years to be a disadvantage. To the contrary, Shane looks to be following in the footsteps of his fellow Golden Boy Promotions partner Bernard Hopkins who at age 45 is still at boxing’s elite level.
There are, however, certain boxing skills that prove poisonous to Mosley. A good jab has been Mosley’s bane, a skill which is second nature to a supreme technical boxer like Floyd. In his four losses twice both to Vernon Forrest and Winky Wright, he fell victim to an excellent jab and was thoroughly outboxed, violently in the first Forrest fight. Against Cotto he lost a narrow decision, but it was a closely-contested bout throughout. What these opponents all had were strength and a snappy jab sturdy enough to move Mosley out of position whenever it landed.
While Floyd certainly possesses an excellent jab, is it sturdy enough to deter a strong top welterweight? A knock on Floyd’s career is that he has not been tested enough at welterweight, with Judah and Oscar dela Hoya being his best opponents at or above 147. He dominated Judah but not before struggling in the first four rounds, even suffering a knockdown that was not called by referee Richard Steele in the second round.
In terms of pure boxing skills, Floyd has the skill set to do what Winky Wright did twice to Mosley. The big question is, can Floyd do it having a lesser reach and generally being smaller than Shane. It is worth noting that Shane has faced strong guys at junior middleweight and performed reasonably well, with the exception of the two Wright fights. He has knocked out Vargas twice and Mayorga, thus if we go by their respective r?sum?s Shane has continuously faced opponents as high as junior middleweight while Floyd has lately picked lighter weight guys to come up to welterweight.
Mosley does not really bully his opponents but one has to consider he would use that tack given his distinct edge in strength, something that would surely not be lost on his grizzled trainer Nazim Richardson. Aside from the first Castillo fight which many thought he lost, Floyd has not really been pressured and bulled by a strong opponent. Ricky Hatton tried but he did not have the upper body strength to be effective, understandable since he was a natural junior welterweight after all. Floyd may be quicker and have better boxing skills than Mosley, but if Shane fights him with physicality, the advantages that Floyd enjoys may all go out the window. If that happens he will have to stand his ground and exchange with Shane at some point or another, and with Shane’s fight-ending power Floyd may have finally bitten off more than he can chew.
The bookmakers and most boxing writers may think Floyd Mayweather is the favorite over Shane Mosley, but the only guys Floyd has fought that are as big as Shane are dela Hoya, Baldomir and to some extent Judah. Floyd knows the magnitude of danger Shane represents, and perhaps there is some truth to Shane’s allegations that Floyd was only forced to this fight because of recent well-known circumstances, only signing after realizing how the fallout of yet another failed negotiation will affect his future prospects.
It is quite ironic that just when Floyd has veered away from years of perceived soft opposition, he may well be knocked out in the first real fight he will have been in in quite some time. Shane Mosley is at least even money in this fight, and although some boxing writers have already bought into Floyd’s hypothetical status among all-time welterweight greats, it remains to be seen how he handles a true top-notch welterweight beast at or near his peak.
We will all find out soon.
