WASHINGTON, D.C. -- On May 1, 38-year-old Shane Mosley will put his WBA welterweight (147 pounds) title on the line against 33-year-old, undefeated, Floyd Mayweather at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Mosley (pictured above, right, with Mayweather) will have been out of the ring for about 16 months by the time he throws his first punch against Mayweather, last having been in competition for a January, 2009, ninth-round knockout of Antonio Margarito.
Mosley will turn 39 in September, around which time, if he defeats Mayweather, he would be considering the rematch, which is mandated by a clause in their contracts in the event that Mayweather loses in May.
Mosley has fought four fighters twice, and, endured the criticism for having admittedly used steroids in 2003. But now, Mosley stands to make his largest career payday against Mayweather.
In addition, Mosley has no immediate plans to retire, all of which he talks about with FanHouse in this Q&A.
FanHouse: Shane, you have had some very big wins throughout your career, including two over Oscar De La Hoya, two knockouts of Fernando Vargas, and one stoppage each against Ricardo Mayorga and Antonio Margarito. How would a win over Floyd Mayweather rank in comparison to any of those?
Shane Mosley: This would be, I mean, this is a victory that's going to be so big. It's going to be one of the fights of the decade. Of this decade. I'm just excited to be in this type of a matchup, so that I can be able to show myself.
I want to show the talent and the skill that I have, even at this age. I'm going to be able to knock Mayweather out?
That's like a dream. And then, I can go ahead and fight [Manny] Pacquiao after that? Oh, Man. I can't wait to get into the ring and to dig my teeth into Mayweather.
I can already see that I have the size. I have good hand speed, and I think that he may be underestimating the type of speed that I have and the way that I throw my punches.
He might be underestimating me. It's not the same as fighting a guy that's 135, or 140. He's fighting a guy that's a real 147-pounder. Or, if you will, I've fought at 154.
The guys that I lost to, Winky Wright and Vernon Forrest, these guys can go up to 160. They can fight a Kelly Pavlik, and these big guys.
They're ready to fight big guys, and I'm hurting them and dropping them.
FH: Are you saying that you will be the first man to stop Floyd Mayweather?
Mosley: I think that if he gets hit on the chin, he's going to end up going down. I think it's going to be a knockout. If I land the punches that I know that I can land, he's going to go down.
FH: So, can you break down the fight for us and tell us how it's going to go down?
Mosley: The fight's going to go like this: He's [Floyd's] telling me to use my jab. And, you know, yeah, I think that I'll take his advice, but I was going to do that anyway, and use my jab a little more, and touch him.
I'm going to touch him, and touch him, and touch him. And then, he's going to wonder 'Why is he hitting me so much?', and, 'I've never been hit this many times in a fight before.' Then, he's going to get nervous and scared. And once he does that, that's half of the fight.
If I'm leading on the cards, that's half of the fight. He's still got to fight me. It's going to be my jab, my footwork, and I've got use everything that I have.
I can't just go in there and knock the guy out. A lot of times, I beat the guy at what they do best. When I fought Louis Collazo, who is not on the same level as Mayweather, I out-boxed him.
Even though I was a bigger and stronger person, I clearly out-boxed him the whole fight. It was just that he was a great, southpaw boxer. So I can do many different things, and that's what gives fighters problems.
Because I'm so universal.
FH: What is your official stance on the whole Olympic-style drug testing notion?
Mosley: I love it. I love it. Because it's been since 2003 since that drama [his admitted steroid use] happened. But, you know, we need to clean up boxing. I think that he has a point there. Clean up boxing, and let people know that when we get into the ring, it's the real stuff.
It's one thing that interests me is that, Mayweather shoots something up in his hands before his fights. I don't know what it is. I'd like to know what it is. And the only place that it's legal is in Las Vegas. And that's probably why the Pacquiao fight didn't happen.
Because he can't do that in Dallas or the other places. He can only put that in his hands in Las Vegas, so, that's another thing. But you know what, I don't care. He can put whatever he wants to on his hands.
But my thing is, does he have any advantage to it? Is it a stimulus? Making him have more energy or be in better shape?
FH: Can you talk about the rematch clause?
Mosley: The rematch clause I think is there because there is some concern. There is some concern of him losing this fight. That's what makes this fight great.
It was asked for at the beginning of the negotiations. 'We need a rematch clause, Okay?' I'm like, 'You want a rematch clause? OKay, no problem. You don't have to ask.' We don't need to even put that on pen to paper. My word is as good as that.
When I fought [Fernando] Vargas, he was like, 'I want a rematch, I want a rematch.' I'm like, 'Oh, you want a rematch? Okay, let's go.'
But when I wanted to fight [Manny] Pacquiao or Mayweather, the damper was put on me. I was there waiting to fight either one of these guys, and they didn't even really have a fight made. They couldn't even make things work.
But did they care about if I was going to wait it out or anything? No.
FH: So, the rematch clause, in your mind, gets you a two-for-one in that you get to beat Floyd twice?
Mosley: I get to beat him twice, and, hopefully, like I told him, I said, 'Make sure that you do that rematch.' Because when I fought [Miguel] Cotto, and I thought that I edged him out, but it was a close fight.
But he ran. And I never seen Cotto no more. Nobody ever spit out my name.
FH: And you fought two guys twice, right?
Mosley: Actually, it's three, no, four guys. Oscar De La Hoya, Winky Wright, Vernon Forrest and Fernando Vargas. That's four.
So, you don't need a contract from me. It's like, 'Oh, you want to fight again?' That wasn't good enough for you?' Let's try this again.
FH: You're going to turn 39 in September, a time when you'd likely be thinking about fighting a rematch with Floyd if you win the first fight. So, after that, what would it take for you to begin thinking about retirement and riding off into the sunset?
Mosley: I don't know, man, I'm on the Bernard Hopkins plan, you know? [Laughs] I'm on the Bernard Hopkins plan, man. We run in the same line. He loves the sport, I love the sport. It's going to be hard to get away from this sport.
FH: You feel that good?
Mosley: Aw, man, I feel great. I feel great. I just feel like I can go on forever. I know that I'm going to have to give it up and probably start training my son and other fighters, and just becoming more, maybe getting more into the promotional part of boxing.
I want to definitely be involved with boxing for the rest of my life. This is my life. I've been boxing now for 30 years. And this is what I know. And I'd love to stay in it and help the sport.
And help the young guys come up and just watch it. There's no other sport like boxing. This is my love.
FH: How old is your son, and what has he accomplished in the sport?
Mosley: My son, now, is 19 years old. His name is Shane Mosley Jr. He's a junior, and he's boxing as well. He's pretty good. He's 6-foot-1, and he's going to fight in the Golden Gloves on March 2.
Source: boxing.fanhouse.com
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