Quo vadis, Shane?
In just a span of five months, Sugar Shane Mosley has experienced what elite fighters have dreaded all their lives; the realization that he just no longer has it. Yes, Mosley has always been sweet but his last two fights have shown us that at this stage of his career, he is now as bland as a sugar-less pot pie.
The defeat at the hands of Floyd Mayweather, Jr. in May may have left a bitter aftertaste on Shane when he could not put away Money May when he had him hurt early in the fight. He now claims that he just didn’t know what happened to him, that he felt “tight” after he came close to knocking out Floyd Mayweather, Jr. that night. But to people in the know, the answer was quite obvious and to paraphrase Freddie Roach, Shane Mosley just “can’t pull the trigger anymore.”
Fast forward to September in his bout with Sergio Mora which Mosley hoped would be his return to elite- form, to rebound from the one-sided boxing lesson that Floyd Mayweather, Jr. taught him months back. Alas, what turned out to be his bid for redemption turned into a sour note as it became clear that the Shane Mosley of old has long been gone and that the one inside the ring with Mora is the real Shane Mosley- old, faded and a shell of the fighter who has given us some of the best fights in the history of the sport.
The fight with Sergio Mora was as ugly as one could see and as the fight progresses, you can clearly see the frustration in Mosley’s eyes and the painful realization in his demeanor that many elite fighters who fought beyond their years have realized when the tough gets going inside the ring. He may have won the fight in his mind and in the eyes of many, but in the end, because of his listless performance, he may have lost far more than what he had bargained for.
The writings have been on the wall for Shane Mosley; if not for that one good performance against a distracted and unfocused Antonio Margarito, who after being discovered with Plaster of Paris- like materials in his handwraps was not in the right frame of mind to fight that night, Mosley could have been written off as a major player earlier.
But thanks and no thanks to his connections with the Golden Boy, Mosley was able to land fights that could have gone to younger and more deserving fighters in their stable. He was able to land the Mayweather fight and the big payday that went with it and he tried to sell his comeback fight with Sergio Mora to convince us that he is worthy of a consideration and a viable alternative in the Manny Pacquiao sweepstakes especially after Floyd Mayweather, Jr.’s reluctance to face the Filipino phenomenon. But his carefully laid plans hatched with his partners in Golden Boy backfired when he was exposed with that sorry performance against Mora.
Still, Shane Mosley insists that he is not yet finished with his boxing career. He insists that he is still willing to face anybody including Manny Pacquiao in the ring. It seems that there is a huge disconnect in Shane Mosley’s concept of the reality that he crafts in his mind vis-a-vis the reality of him being inside the ring. The rhetorics don’t count much anymore if one can’t put those words into action when the time of reckoning comes.
And after two successive so-so performances, we say that at this point in time, Shane Mosley’s place is no longer inside the square ring.
The ‘for the love of the game’ crap that some boxing scribes have peddled before the Mora fight as one of the reasons why Shane Mosley should continue fighting beyond his best years does not hold water now. If a fighter can’t be at his best on fight night, then that is the time to walk away.
Shane Mosley should not let himself become another poster boy of fighters who overstayed in the game and made a fool of themselves (read: Roy Jones, Jr.). He must not sully his reputation and tarnish his legacy by becoming the joke himself.
Yes, Shane Mosley can make a difference in the ring by not being inside it. He can continue to be relevant in the sport by being a mentor to young and upcoming fighters like his son out there. He can continue to be a factor in the sport by being a good and conscientious promoter and give the fans the fight that is worth their while.
So, instead of lacing up those gloves again, why not just hang ’em up, Shane?
