LeedsLad

Shane Mosley- 44-5 (37KOs)

Shane Mosley, nicknamed 'Sugar', is a professional boxer from the USA. He was born on 7th September 1971 in Pomona, California. He is a three-weight world champion (135, 147 & 154) and at one time was considered P4P best fighter in the world. Mosley is 5'9 with 74" reach and fights in an orthodox stance.

Shane Mosley was an outstanding amateur, he was a United States amateur champion in 1989, 1990 and 1992. He won multiple national awards and was considered as one of the best amateur fighter in the early 90s. The climax of the amateur career came in 1992 in the qualification for the Barcalona 1992 olympics. Mosley was a top amateur prospect, and expected to go to the olympics and win medals. However, in qualifying Vernon Forrest, current WBC Light-Middleweight champion, beat him in one of the biggest upsets in the qualification stages.

After failing to qualify for the olympics, Shane Mosley turned pro in Febuary 1993. His pro debut at Lightweight, and ended in an emphatic 5th round KO win. Mosley went onto win 23 straight bouts, 22 coming by KO before he got a title shot at the IBF Lightweight belt against Philip Holiday. Mosley won a UD to become the champion, he then went on to defend the title 8 more times at the 135lbs limit. He left Lightweight with a phenomenal 32 fight undefeated record, with 30 wins coming by KO.

Mosley then stepped up two-weight classes, after fighting two quick tune-ups Wilfredo Rivera and Willy Wise, both ending in KO victories, Mosley fought the first big fight of his career against Oscar De La Hoya, considered at the time one of the P4P best. The fight was for the WBC Welterweight title, with Mosley being a big underdog. Mosley gave the best performance of his career, and beat De La Hoya in very convincing fashion. However, only two judges scored it for Mosley and he won via SD over 12 rounds. After making three defences against world class opposition, all ending in KO victories, Mosley had a pro record of 38-0 (35KOs) and was considered by many as the best P4P fighter in the world.

Mosley then took on a very high risk, low reward fight against Vernon Forrest, the man who had concurred him in the amateurs. An accidental headbutt rocked Mosley early, then he was floored twice in the second round and throughly dominated throughout. This was a poor performance by Mosley, and lead to his first career defeat. The judges scored it 115-110, 117-109 and 118-108. Mosley took an immediate rematch 6 months later, and although he faired better he still didnt do enough and lost a clear decision. This time the scorecards were 117-111, 116-112 and 115-113, and lead to another defeat for Mosley. His comeback fight vs. Raul Marquez ended in 3rd round NC, after an accidental clash of heads.

In September 2003, a long-awaited rematch between Shane Mosley and Oscar De La Hoya happened for the WBC & WBA Light-Middleweight belts. It had been 3 years since Mosley won a SD over Oscar. In a competitive, entertaining bout De La Hoya took an early lead before fading down the stretch. A close, and very controversial, decision went to Mosley, all 3 judges scoring the bout 115-113. De La Hoya called for an investigation into the decision, and even Shane himself said he thought he had lost the fight.

Mosley, once again, went for a higher risk and low reward fight. He put his WBA & WBC title's on the line against IBF title holder Ronald 'Winky' Wright. Wright's superb southpaw jab and awesome defense kept Mosley off all night, leading to a wide UD win for Wright. The final scores were 116-112, 117-111 and 117-111. Mosley once again called for an immediate rematch, and it happened 8 months later in November 2004. In an entertaining bout, Mosley fought much better. It was close throughout, with Mosley doing alot more than he did in the first fight. However, Mosley still lost a clear decision, with the judges scorecards being 115-113, 115-113 and 114-114. After this fight, Mosley fought lesser competition in 10 round fights. He scored two Unanimous 10-round decisions over David Estrada and Jose Luis Cruz.

In Febuary 2006, Mosley returned to the big fights with a fight against 154lbs superstar Fernando Vargas. In a close fight, many thought Vargas was leading after 9 rounds. The judges had it 86-85, 85-86 & 86-85 in favour of Mosley after the first 9. However, Mosley scored a 10th round TKO victory when he really needed it. The rematch happened 5 months later, once again in Vegas. This bout was much more comfortable for Mosley, Vargas showed obvious signs of slowing down and Mosley won every round on the way to a 6th round TKO victory. In Febuary 2007, Mosley returned to Welterweight (147lbs) to fight Luis Collazo for the interim WBC title. Collazo, who had given British ace Ricky Hatton alot of trouble in the previous bout, broke his hand early and got thoroughly beaten by Mosley. Two judges had it 118-109, while the other had it 119-108 all in favour of Shane.

In November 2007, Shane Mosley agreed to fight undefeated superstar Miguel Angel Cotto for the WBA Welterweight title. This was a very entertaining fight, with Mosley and Cotto trading blow-for-blow and both showing excellent boxing skills. Despite showing he still had alot left to give the sport, Mosley lost another 12-round decision, some people scored the fight for Mosley but on the whole Cotto seemed to deserve the win. The final scores were 116-113, 115-113 & 115-113 all in favour of Cotto.

Despite Mosley suggesting he would retire if he couldnt get a fight with P4P #1 Floyd Mayweather, Shane will return to the ring in Las Vegas on May 17th. His opponent is Zab Judah, the former undisputed Welterweight champion of the world.

Updated by LeedsLad (2/25/08)

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