While Floyd Mayweather Jr. takes on the smaller Juan Manuel Marquez in a big welterweight bout this weekend, at age 38, reigning welterweight champion and pound-for-pound best nominee Shane Mosley shows no sign of slowing down or coasting in his final years as a pro. This man has fought a who’s who among the best of his era, including some whom nobody else wanted to face, such as Ronald Winky Wright and the late Vernon Forrest. That track record will continue the day after Christmas this year, when he takes on a former welterweight titlist whom very few want to tango with, Joshua Clottey.
After gaining the title from then best welterweight Antonio Margarito earlier this year, Shane Mosley has been vocal about wanting to face the best in the world, particularly either Manny Pacquiao or Floyd Mayweather Jr. When those fights failed to materialize, he actively sought out Andre Berto before settling for Joshua Clottey who is the physically largest and possibly most dangerous of options. Worse for Mosley, it’s the highest risk, lowest reward fight of all his possible choices, given Joshua Clottey does not have a popular enough following to warrant HBO pay-per-view.
So this is the reward Sugar Shane Mosley gets for winning the welterweight championship? He has to go with a fourth option for an opponent? Joshua Clottey definitely warrants the opportunity based on his talent and accomplishments in the ring, but this is certainly a fight Shane Mosley did not want. To his credit, Mosley has agreed to face the challenge, but after man handling Antonio Margarito and considering his age, he was only supposed to be considering big fights.
Why didn’t they happen? Business. Despite the fact Shane Mosley is the recognized champion at 147 pounds, has an exciting style and has accumulated hall of fame level credentials, he has never successfully been the A side of a promotion and put butts in the seats. Furthermore, boxing fans no longer place a great deal of weight on championship belts given the great multitude of them today. Therefore, his leverage as a champion with limited live gate appeal is diminished.
Consider the Manny Pacquiao – Ricky Hatton fight earlier in the year. No major championship was at stake, but the promotion was a tremendous success because of the strong fan following each man brings to the table. As for Shane Mosley, he brings a terrific B side to a promotion but let’s consider his options.
Floyd Mayweather Jr., despite his awesome pay-per-view numbers against Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton, he has not proven an ability to carry a promotion yet. He was the B side in both bouts and marketed as the man everyone loves to hate. Manny Pacquiao, as good as he is, happens to be just too small for Shane Mosley. Yes, Pacquiao would bring the fans to the fight, but he would be signing his death warrant in the process, as I am convinced there is no way he would match Mosley’s size, strength and skill level in the ring. The third option, Andre Berto, is just not ready yet to pose a formidable challenge against any fighter at the elite level, and given his young age, there is no reason to rush him along.
Therefore, Shane Mosley joins Joshua Clottey and Paul Williams as prominent boxers nobody wants to face in the ring. With limited options, maybe they will all face each other. Mosley and Clottey get it started on December 5th….great for boxing but not great for their bank accounts.
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