When Shane Mosley (above, right) last entered the ring, a little more than a year ago on Jan. 24, against hard-punching, WBA world super welterweight (147 pounds) champion, Antonio Margarito, his lead-fisted, opponent was not the only thing on his mind.
Mosley was in the midst of the BALCO scandal, in which he has since admitted during leaked grand jury testimony that he had unknowingly used designer steroids before dethroning Oscar De La Hoya as WBA, WBC, and, IBF junior middleweight (154 pounds) titlist in September, 2003.
At the time, Mosley had just dropped down from 154, where he had stopped former world champ, Ricardo Mayorga, in the 12th round of their September, 2008 clash.
Mosley had fired his father, Jack Mosley, as his trainer, having replaced him with Nazim Richardson, known for his work with Bernard Hopkins.
And he was in the midst of a nasty split from his wife, Jin, who was not only the mother of three of his four children, but also, his business manager.
Mosley, nevertheless, channeled all of that angst into a focused and aggressive attack on Margarito, whom he lead by five, seven, and, nine points, respectively, on the three judges' cards before stopping the Mexican fighter for the first time in his career.
"I went to the Margarito fight, and I've never seen him more calm and focused than I saw him on that night," said Judd Burstein, who has been Mosley's attorney for seven years. "It was as if his career had been revitalized."
Now, the 38-year-old Mosley (46-5, 39 knockouts) is on the verge of his career-best payday, according to Burstein, who confirmed that the three-division, world champion signed his bout contract on Friday for a May 13, megafight opposite 32-year-old five-time world titlist, Floyd Mayweather (40-0, 25 KOs) to take place at The MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
"We're ready to do it. I'm ready to go. I'm happy. It's May 1. It's something that I've wanted, and it's something that the fans will get a great deal of excitement out of. Everybody needs to come out and watch it, because it's history," Mosley told FanHouse's Elie Seckbach during an exclusive interview in Las Vegas on Friday evening moments after signing his bout agreement.
"I just need to do what I do. Floyd has fought a lot of guys who are past their prime. Or he's fought a lot of guys who weren't as fast as him or as big as him. Or he'd just pick and choose," said Mosley. "But this is a fight that I think that he's gotten pushed into because the [Manny] Pacquiao fight fell out. So he got pushed into this fight. He didn't really want it."
The deal was completed on Friday evening with Burstein in Las Vegas.
"Since I was in Las Vegas, and Shane was in Las Vegas yesterday, we were able to do a person-to-person meeting and go through everything," Burstein told FanHouse on Saturday, answering, "Yes," when asked if Mosley was to receive his largest purse ever against Mayweather.
"We had gone back and forth with the Mayweather camp over an extensive period of time just working out the details," said Burstein. "We came to an agreement that the Mayweather camp signed off on and that we found acceptable."
Mosley still is in the midst of legal issues involving Jin and Conte, "but he's more focused on his career than ever," said Burstein, adding that he believed that Mayweather was ready to sign as well.
"I saw [Mayweather's adviser] Leonard Ellerbe [Friday night,] and I told him that Shane had signed. And Leonard said that, 'We've got a deal, and it will be signed very soon,'" said Burstein, referring to Ellerbe, CEO of Mayweather Promotions.
"[Ellerbe] said that Floyd wants the fight, the terms are acceptable, and we're going forward," said Burstein. "He said, there's nothing to be concerned about. The fight's on.'"
Part of the deal requires that both fighters agree to Olympic-style, random blood-testing and urinalysis, something which Mayweather's camp had insisted upon during their failed negotiations for a recent bout against WBO welterweight champion, Manny Pacquiao (50-3-2, 38 KOs).
Pacquiao will instead defend his title against Joshua Clottey (35-3, 20 KOs) of Ghana on March 13 at The Dallas Cowboys' Stadium in Arlington.
"In [Mayweather's] mind, he knows that this is going to be a difficult fight. It's going to be a great fight. I can't wait to sink my teeth into this type of fight. It's going to be good," said Mosley. "That's what it's about. It's boxing. I'm going to go ahead and take it to the next level and take Floyd out."
Mosley has lost twice, respectively, to Vernon Forrest, and, Winky Wright, with a fifth loss being against Miguel Cotto -- all by decision.
Mosley demonstrated perhaps the most heart in his first loss to Forrest, getting up after having been floored twice and nearly stopped in the second round.
"It wasn't just two months ago, but a year ago I've been trying to get a fight. I thought that after the Margarito fight, that I would land one right away. But But they waited me out, waited me out, and I waited until the time was right. Now they have no choice but to come to me," said Mosley, whose contract has a rematch clause if Mayweather loses.
"So after I fight Mayweather a couple of times, then I'll go ahead and fight Manny Pacquiao," said Mosley. "That's just like I told the world it should have been that way in the first place."
Over the course of his career, Mosley has beaten world champions, De La Hoya (twice), Fernando Vargas (twice), Margarito, Mayorga, Jesse James Leija, John John Molina, Phillip Holiday and Luis Collazo.
Of those, Mosley has knocked out Vargas, Mayorga, Margarito, Leija and Molina.
Mosley decisioned Holiday in his 24th fight for the IBF lightweight crown in August of 1997. In April of 1999, Mosley defended that title for last time with an eighth-round knockout of John Brown.
Mosley then skipped over the junior welterweight (140 pounds) division and scored consecutive, 147-pound stoppages over Wilfredo Rivera and Willy Wise, respectively, in 10, and three rounds, before earning a split-decision victory in June of 2000 over De La Hoya for the WBC welterweight belt.
In September of 2003, Mosley dethroned De La Hoya, not long after which he admitted using the steroids, "the cream," and, "the clear" -- prior to defeating De La Hoya.
"I've been representing Shane Mosley continuously for seven years. He's a fighter who is a true warrior, one who is very typical of a boxer who is extremely nice in his personal life," said Burstein.
"But when he's got his game face on, you won't find anybody who fights as hard and with as much stamina," said Burstein. "He's already a Hall of Famer, but this is going to be a nice cap to the latter part of his career."
Source: boxing.fanhouse.com
***
No comments:
Post a Comment