Mosley Plans His Legacy and His Efforts to Ruin Everyone Else’s -- New York Times

By Greg Bishop, The New York Times

BIG BEAR LAKE, Calif. — Sugar Shane Mosley sits upstairs in the man cave at his training compound, the one with a massage table in the corner and a hot tub on the deck.

At 38 years old, he is the last of the 1992 Olympians still boxing. Yet Mosley continues to venture inside boxing rings to affirm and enhance the subject for which he cares most deeply: his legacy, as a Sugar, as a boxer, as, he hopes, an all-time great.

“People that follow boxing know that I’m a maniac,” Mosley said. “The ones that don’t say I’m old and slow, I’m this and that. All this stup-id-ness.”

He spit out that last word like a piece of rotten food. Gone was the smile that defines him, replaced with a nervous laugh.

“They look past greatness,” he continued. “I’m a legendary fighter. I’ve been battling for years. Battling. And battling. It doesn’t sit right with me, being on the back end.”

He leaned forward, his body shaking as if on vibrate, his penetrating blue eyes filled with anger, frustration, disbelief.

“I have another idea,” he said, voice rising. “This here is the year of the monkey wrench. Write me off. I’m throwing a wrench in everybody’s plans.”

Mosley (46-5 with 39 knockouts), not Manny Pacquiao, will meet Floyd Mayweather Jr. (40-0 with 25 knockouts) on Saturday night in a welterweight fight in Las Vegas. He will showcase that misleading smile, a toothy grin framed by a thin mustache.

His trainer, Naazim Richardson, said he believed all great fighters possess deceiving qualities, from Muhammad Ali (unassuming heavyweight) to Oscar De La Hoya (tougher than he looked) to Mayweather himself (trash talk overshadows talent).

“And Shane Mosley is misleading,” Richardson said. “You look at that smile, that little kid smile, looking like he wants to sell you insurance or something. There’s this sweet quality about him. You forget he’s ferocious in the ring.”

Mosley’s father, Jack, implored his son to boast more, reasoning that “the mouth that stays closed never gets fed.” But that has never been Mosley’s style.

He trains here, flanked by his best friend and his 19-year-old son, surrounded by those he calls the Tribe. The main house is downright quaint, with paintings of bald eagles and snowmen figurines and a sign that reads, “Sugar Shane’s Chalet.” On Tuesday nights he heads to the nearby Bowling Barn, where locals grumble about flash photography and Mosley rolls under the tag name SUG.

All this makes for a humble, peaceful existence by boxing standards, but it also fans an internal struggle between who Mosley wants to be and how he wants to be remembered. He desires his place in boxing history and will discuss it when prompted (as for this article), but refuses to campaign actively.

“I’m not going to run my mouth just to run it,” he said. “That’s just talking. When I say something, you know I mean it.”

Mosley first considered his legacy at age 10, when he announced that one day he would become world champion. He never considered another plan.

He met his best friend, Hassan AbdulRahim Jr., in high school in Pomona, Calif., and they drove around in a green Volkswagen Beetle they once rebuilt in mechanics class. Most days ended at a park, with legacy the favorite topic.

Mosley struck his friend as calm, collected and obsessed with a singular pursuit. Boxers love that about him, even now. De La Hoya described Mosley as “the fighter that every fighter loves,” a throwback who sent his trainer pictures of an impromptu sparring session — held on his vacation in Bolivia.

For Mosley, boxing holds oxygen’s importance. If he spends more than a week outside the ring, he feels nasty, caged. He paces hotel rooms, or knocks out push-ups, plays basketball, tennis and soccer, or snowboards, anything to fill the void.

His grandfather remains spry at 91. His father still hits heavy bags at 65. Mosley always exuded the family energy, even in nursery school, when he tooled around on a Big Wheel while his classmates napped.

“I remember when we first started training, and I said, ‘This boxing is going to wear him out,’ ” Jack Mosley said. “Never did. Even to this day, it never does.”

Mosley faced doubts from the beginning, fighting for $1,000 here and there, knocking out all but one of his first 23 opponents. He won his first 38 fights, mostly at lightweight, and compiled a knockout ratio among the highest ever.

He chased the two famed Sugars who came before. Among his prized possessions, Mosley keeps a photograph of himself and Sugar Ray Robinson, often considered the greatest boxer of all. Mosley befriended Sugar Ray Leonard, too.

“I wanted to be like them, to show the difference between real fighters and fake ones,” Mosley said. “That’s the era that I’m from, the era that I fought in, the era that I watched. You fight the best and everything else follows.”

Not exactly. Mosley beat De La Hoya in 2000 and destroyed Antonio Margarito in his last fight, which many had considered a retirement party, in January 2009. Leonard called after the Margarito bout and told Mosley he represented their nickname perfectly.

That win announced Mosley’s return to boxing’s consciousness. But what happened between De La Hoya and Margarito nearly derailed his career.

The first defeat came in 2002, against Vernon Forrest, and over the next five years Mosley lost nearly as often as he won. Each beating came against a bigger fighter, and as recently as two years ago, promoters told his security guard to begin searching for another job.

AbdulRahim said Mosley fights best when happy, and he sees more than coincidence that Mosley’s life and career fell apart at the same time.

Victor Conte, the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative founder, accused Mosley of using performance-enhancing drugs in 2003 and recently released portions of Mosley’s court testimony. Mosley said under oath that he unknowingly used performance-enhancing drugs.

Mosley is suing Conte for defamation, but while he agreed to Olympic-style blood testing for this bout and mostly shrugged off the subject of steroids, it obviously bothers him. On a recent conference call, he said, “It’s ridiculous that the media wants to make me the poster boy for steroids.”

Beyond that, Mosley endured a brutal and public separation from his wife and business manager (they married in 2002 and are getting a divorce). Friends used the word “toxic” to describe the union.

“He’s in a different place now, a good place,” said LaDainian Tomlinson, a Jets running back and Mosley’s friend. “This is where Shane can cement his legacy forever, as the first person to beat Floyd Mayweather.”

De La Hoya said Mosley could retire ranked among the greatest fighters of his era, but “he does have to beat a Mayweather and beat a Pacquiao to be considered that.” Richardson, his trainer, called this fight the most important of Mosley’s career.

Mosley’s camp remains confident in its preparations, so much so that the first hour of training is off limits, even to HBO’s cameras. Privately, they laugh off the underdog label, with Richardson reminding skeptics that few picked Butler to advance to the N.C.A.A. championship game.

“He wants to remind people who he is,” AbdulRahim said. “He feels like, because of the hype, boxing took this guy from the Philippines and this guy, who wasn’t really much of a champion, to tell you the truth, and placed them in his spot. Shane is the one who should be pushed and hyped and put on this pedestal. He will prove that.”

Should Mosley upset Mayweather, he could aim for a rematch or fight Pacquiao, the Filipino who has won world titles in seven weight divisions. But one day, next year or five years from now, the emphasis on legacy will shift toward Shane Jr., the next fighter in the Mosley line.

They train together here, inside the garage Mosley transformed into a puncher’s paradise. Richardson bestowed the boy with his own nickname: Spice.

“Don’t forget about Little Shane,” Mosley told friends recently. “My baby boy is next.”

With that, Mosley went back inside his gym, where his son needed instruction and his legacy needed polishing. He had typical, understated plans on this recent Tuesday: an evening with the locals, at the big, red bowling barn for league night.

Source: nytimes.com

Coming on Saturday: Mayweather vs. Mosley -- Wall Street Journal

By GORDON MARINO, The Wall Street Journal

If boxing were a nation, its capital these days would be the welterweight division. Among the 147-pounders are three or perhaps four of the premier pugilists in the world: Manny Pacquiao (51-3-2, 38 knockouts), Floyd Mayweather Jr. (40-0, 25 KOs), "Sugar" Shane Mosley (46-5, 39 KOs) and, on the cusp, Andre Berto (26-0, 20 KOs).

Messrs. Pacquiao and Mayweather are at the top of this short list and were supposed to tussle this spring. But that contest-in-the-making imploded over Mr. Mayweather's drug-testing demands on Mr. Pacquiao. Still, a matchup between Messrs. Mosley and Mayweather is almost as compelling as the contest that hit the canvas. This bout, which will take place Saturday at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, is being touted as a fight between two of the best boxers of a generation and, for once, the promotion is without hyperbole. Both are certain first-ballot Hall of Fame candidates.

In 40 bouts, Mr. Mayweather, a six-time world champion, is undefeated and relatively untested. The only opponents to seriously challenge the Grand Rapids, Mich., native were Oscar De La Hoya and, to a lesser extent, José Luis Castillo. While some of the all-time greats lost fights and absorbed lessons from their setbacks, Mr. Mayweather's unblemished record is at the core of his sense of identity. For that reason, perhaps, he has not always taken on the most challenging opponents. Many, for instance, believe that Mr. Mayweather's issues with Mr. Pacquiao about the alleged use of performance-enhancing drugs were just an attempt to dodge the dangerous "Pac Man," or at least to postpone a clash with him until Mr. Mayweather was better prepared. But Mr. Mayweather, whose pay-per-view revenues are second only to Mike Tyson's, is clear about the bottom line of his boxing decisions: "I am a competitive athlete and before we make any fight the cash has to be right. When you are young, you fight to show you are better, and then you prove it. At this level, it's about money because I already proved the rest."

For Mr. Mosley, in contrast, boxing is now mostly about legacy. The five-time world champion emphasizes: "I'm fighting for my place in history. To be the best." Mr. Mosley's trainer, Nazim Richardson, was more specific. A few months ago he told me: "Shane wants to earn his 'sugar'—his place with the other sugars, Sugar Ray Robinson and Sugar Ray Leonard."

Before he beat superstar Antonio Margarito in 2009, Mr. Mosley was out-boxed by Miguel Cotto and, earlier, by both Winky Wright and Vernon Forrest. If he can be the first to put a loss in Mr. Mayweather's ledger, it would prove wrong the experts beginning to write his career's obituary. As Mr. Richardson put it: "Shane lives for this kind of fight." Mr. Mosley is as riveted to his task as an aspiring medical-school student boning up for the MCATs. The same can be said for the speedy and crafty boxer who will be his exam on Saturday night.

For all his shenanigans, the 33-year-old Mr. Mayweather is as disciplined as a monk when it comes to his art. He is always superbly conditioned. Emanuel Steward, the boxing commentator and legendary trainer, noted: "Floyd is not fooling around for this one. He is really focused. Honestly, I think this is the first time that he is in there with someone whom he thinks he could actually lose to." And with good reason; at 5 feet 9 inches, Mr. Mosley is a big, powerful welterweight who loves to exchange punches and who, even at the advanced boxing age of 38, is only a few nanoseconds slower than the 5-foot-8-inch Mr. Mayweather.

Mr. Mosley is strategically mum about his fight plan. He did, however, confide that he is working on his speed and on attacking at angles out of the plane of Mr. Mayweather's incomparable counterpunches. An assiduous student of the sweet science who is now training his son, Mr. Mosley is always trying to enhance his game by scrutinizing the films of past masters. Now, his film curriculum is centered on Sugar Ray Leonard. When I asked what he gleaned from watching Mr. Leonard, Mr. Mosley said: "His intense flurries and the way he would keep his balance while throwing all of those punches."

More than any other blow, Mr. Mayweather is vulnerable to a left jab. In the Mayweather vs. De La Hoya contest, so long as Mr. De La Hoya was pumping his jab, he was piling up rounds. But as that doyen of boxing technique, Bernard Hopkins, has commented: "It's true that you can hit Floyd with a jab, but sometimes he is just luring you in, letting you hit him, so that he can turn over that counterright." Mr. Mayweather, who has split-second reaction time, tucks his right by his chin and behind his slightly turned left shoulder, and then uncoils it as his foe comes charging in.

Mr. Richardson offered this appraisal: "Floyd is a sensational athlete. Everyone talks about how fast he is, but it's not his speed that makes him so special. It's his timing and punch placement. He times his counterpunches perfectly and puts them on those points where they really do some damage"—like the neural nexus that is the point of the chin. An example of Mr. Mayweather's crushing counterstrikes can be seen in his dramatic December 2007 knockout of the then-undefeated Ricky Hatton.

Fans of blood-and-guts boxing are not enthralled by Mr. Mayweather's circumspect approach to the sport. Some of these naysayers would even go so far as to suggest that Mr. Mayweather is too timorous to rumble. But Mr. Richardson disagrees: "I expect Shane to come out and hit Mayweather in the mouth with a right hand. Then Mayweather will sprout wings and a tail and turn into a dragon. I tell Shane to step away from his fireballs, step on his tail and punch him in the stomach and get him out of there." One point is certain: Whoever plays the part of the dragon slayer in this event will be looking forward to meeting the Filipino fireball, Mr. Pacquiao, in a fight that looms as large as any bout in decades.

Mr. Marino writes about boxing for the Journal.

Source: online.wsj.com

Stakes couldn't be higher for Mosley against Mayweather -- Sports Illustrated

SI.com

LAS VEGAS -- Every punch Shane Mosley throws in the gym nowadays has a purpose, as if he is trying to knock out some of the misfortune of his past.

Bam! That's for you, members of the media, for lauding my accomplishments but never recognizing me as the top fighter in the game.

Bam! Bam! That's for you, Victor Conte, for introducing me to performance-enhancing drugs, which have attached a stench to me that I just can't shake.

Bam! Bam! Bam! That's for you, Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, for costing me a critical year in my career by refusing to get in the ring with me.

His punches still have surprising pop too, in part because the crippling power is still there -- witness last year's destruction of Antonio Margarito -- and in part because, at 38, Mosley throws them with the understanding that he may not have many left. It's what makes Saturday night's showdown with Mayweather (9 p.m. ET, HBO PPV) perhaps the most important fight of his career.

"I think at this point it will be the biggest fight," Mosley said. "You have a lot of viewers watching it. It's a fight that the world wanted to see. So it's a big fight. It's a very big fight and I'm excited to have this fight."

In many ways Saturday night represents an opportunity for Mosley to chase off some of the demons that haunt him. Despite a Hall of Fame-caliber career, Mosley has never been considered the world's No. 1 fighter. He was on the track to that title in 2000 when he defeated Oscar De La Hoya, but two subsequent losses to Vernon Forrest set him back.

He battled his way back into the discussion in 2003 when he scored a second victory over De la Hoya, but back-to-back losses to Winky Wright sent him plummeting back to the pack. Factor in his inability to match De La Hoya's popularity outside the ring and Mosley spent most of the last decade playing second fiddle to a man he had beaten -- twice.

Defeating Mayweather, however, would write a new chapter in Mosley's career. Peruse any pound-for-pound list and Mayweather's name rarely falls below No. 2. Most of those same lists have Mosley in the top five. While Pacquiao is entrenched at No. 1, it stands to reason that the winner of a No. 2 vs. No. 3-4-5 (depending what you read) deserves consideration for the top spot.

"Shane wants to fight so bad," said Mosley's trainer, Naazim Richardson. "They could've convinced Shane that Roger [Mayweather] needs to be one of the judges. But Shane would've agreed to it, because Shane just wants to fight. You can tell Shane, Look, you're going to have to tie one arm behind your back, and Shane's going to fight. We can hold it in Michigan in [Floyd's] backyard, and Shane wants to fight. Shane comes to the table already with the impression that as long as we're fighting, I don't care about anything else."

As important as it is to Mosley to step out of the shadows of Mayweather and Pacquiao, there is an even bigger one he is dancing away from. We may never know the depth of Mosley's involvement with performance-enhancing drugs. But his association with Conte -- the mad scientist inextricably linked to the Steroid Era in sports, who supplied Mosley with performance-enhancing drugs before his rematch with De La Hoya, according to leaked grand jury testimony -- and Mosley's unconvincing denials have created a perception that Mosley is the Barry Bonds of boxing. ("I didn't test positive" carries roughly the same believability with the public as "the dog ate my homework.")

Mosley's decision to pursue a reported $12 million defamation suit against Conte has kept the story in the headlines. Conte and Mosley's lawyer, Judd Burstein, have been exchanging verbal jabs, culminating with the release of a series of YouTube videos -- some by Conte, some by Burstein -- that show a flustered Mosley tacitly confirming in videotaped depositions that he had used performance enhancers.

Mosley, however, insists that is not the case.

"I've always been a clean fighter," Mosley said. "I've been knocking around everybody since 2003 and before 2003. I don't feel that I should be condemned for something that I never tested positive for. ... It's ridiculous now that the media want to make me the poster boy of steroids. Whatever. If [the media] want to continue to think that or put that out there, so be it. So be it."

Steroids will not be a part of Mosley's fight with Mayweather, thanks to stringent drug testing being performed (at Mayweather's insistence) by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. This form of random blood testing is groundbreaking in the sport and presents Mosley with an opportunity to claim a victory over an elite fighter without a whiff of doubt about how he got it.

"Actually, I like the fact that [USADA reps] come all the time," Mosley said. "I learned a lot of different things [like] eating natural and normal foods without taking any of the vitamins."

One fight may not wipe out parts of Mosley's past that he badly wants to erase. But winning would be a big step in that direction. The stakes are high for Shane Mosley. In fact, they couldn't be higher.

Source: sportsillustrated.cnn.com

Shane Mosley ready to match wits with ring-savvy Floyd Mayweather Jr. Saturday in Las Vegas -- New York Daily News

By Tim Smith, New York Daily News

LAS VEGAS - Underneath all of Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s bravado and the showy display of his cash resides one of the most intelligent and skilled boxers of this generation.

That combination of athleticism and ring savvy has resulted in Mayweather's unblemished record against 40 previous opponents. To his credit Shane Mosley, the WBA 147-pound champion hasn't gotten caught up in the sideshow and lost sight of Mayweather's bountiful boxing gifts.

Mosley and his trainer, Naazim Richardson, know what they are going to face when Mosley takes on Mayweather in a 12-round welterweight HBO PPV megafight at the MGM Grand on Saturday night.

Even so Mosley (46-5, 39 KOs) isn't taking a backseat to Mayweather in any department.

"I think he has good hand speed, but I think my hand speed is good, too," Mosley said. "I don't know if I'm going to be faster or I'm going to be slower. I have to get in the ring and see. I believe I'm faster. I believe that I'm going to have the advantage in the speed, but we'll see."

One thing that Mosley can't anticipate is Mayweather's uncanny timing. Mayweather seems to know exactly when his opponent is going to throw a punch and precisely where it will land, allowing him to avoid it by inches and to deliver the perfect counterpunch.

"Life is about timing and inches," Mayweather said. "Boxing is about timing and inches. I'm able to time a guy pretty well."

"Pretty well" is an understatement. A few years ago Mayweather invited me to the gym to watch him workout. He called over a sparring partner, placed him two feet in front of him and ordered the boxer to hit him. Mayweather dropped his hands down to his side and the sparring partner threw punches from every conceivable angle and couldn't touch Mayweather as he ducked, twisted and turned without ever moving his feet. It was one of the most amazing athletic displays I've ever witnessed.

Afterwards I asked Mayweather to explain it and he said he just knew where the punches would be coming from. I don't believe it's a mystical Jedi trick. It's probably more related to a hitter's ability to pick up a pitch as it leaves a pitcher's hand and being able to slow it down to recognize the rotation on the ball to determine what kind of pitch it is. But even the greatest hitters only succeed 35% of the time. Mosley is batting 1.000.

That ability, coupled with his natural speed and quickness, has given Mayweather a tremendous defensive and offensive advantage over most of his opponents.

It is the intangible that Mosley and Richardson have to contend with in their pre-fight strategy.

"The timing is just one of your problems you're going to face in dealing with Floyd Mayweather," Richardson said. "But if you sit there and you try to depict everything you're going to have to face with him and people start talking about sparring partners ... Who's going to spar like Floyd Mayweather?

"All you can do is train the athlete to the best of their ability and then bring him in and have him follow your game plan to the best of his ability and I feel as though Shane will be able to execute everything that we're working on, and then Floyd will need to make adjustments as Shane will have to make adjustments throughout the fight."

Those adjustments will have to be made on the fly, sometimes during the heat of the battle. That will require Mosley
to match wits with Mayweather. So this match will shape up as a fistic cat and mouse game. We've seen it before with both fighters.

The general consensus from the boxing experts before Mayweather fought Ricky Hatton was that Hatton would try to rough up Mayweather by grabbing and punching after he pushed Mayweather away. Instead Mayweather turned the tables on Hatton and roughed him up inside, before knocking him out in the 10th round.

Before Mosley fought Miguel Cotto, most people thought that Mosley would be able to easily outbox Cotto. But Cotto turned the tables on Mosley. Cotto used a stiff jab as a platform and outboxed Mosley on the way to a narrow decision victory.

Mosley acknowledged that on the occasions that he lost, he might not have been as sharp mentally as he needed to be.

"The fight game is really a mental game. People don't realize that. It's not really that physical," Mosley said. "I think mentally, at that point in my career I wasn't on top of my game mentally."

That better not be the case when he gets in against Mayweather. Richardson said he's not worried about that, even though Mosley hasn't fought since he overwhelmed Antonio Margarito on Jan. 21, 2009. He had a fight with Andre Berto on Jan. 30 that was cancelled when Berto, who is of Haitian descent, was shaken up by the loss of relatives and friends in the earthquake in Haiti.

"As far as Shane preparing for the Margarito fight and Shane preparing for the Mayweather fight, I'm very comfortable with his mental preparation," Richardson said. "I'm very comfortable, and I'm more comfortable in either one of those fights than I was for the Berto fight because this is the level that Shane desires. This is where Shane knows he belongs."

Source: nydailynews.com

The Mayweather-Mosley prediction page -- The Sweet Science

By Michael Woods, The Sweet Science

Three days until we dispense with the trashtalk, and endless hype-o-rama and polling. Three days until we see if Shane Mosley, a few years past his prime, but still lodged in the pound for pound top ten on any given night, can be the first man to force Floyd Mayweather to taste the bitter brew of defeat. Three days until talk fades away, and will, and skill, and strength, and stamina have the last word.

Forty times, Mayweather has been tested, and not once has the opponent had his hand raised after the tussle. Anti Floyd folk will argue convincingly that Jose Luis Castillo deserved the nod in their first tangle, in 2002. Be that what it may, the record book says Floyd is undefeated. The man himself says he's the greatest of all time, better than the Sugars, more of a total package than Ali. For that reason, there will be no shortage of persons tuning in to Mayweather-Mosley, taking place on Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas and seen on a TV pay-per-view basis, hoping that Mosley looks like the year 2000 version of himself.

A healthy percentage of fight fans simply want to see Mayweather taken down a peg, have that smug smile wiped off his mouth. Could Mosley, who didn't overwhelm a faded Ricardo Mayorga in 2008, do the job? Will he be able to pierce the superior Mayweather defense, the best force field in the fight game today? No doubt Mosley has the tendency towards aggression that hints of a stiff test for Mayweather, but is his style the right one to give Mayweather severe trouble? Could Shane's "power boxing," perhaps buffed to a fine sheen under new trainer Naazim Richardson, the Philly tutor who soaked up tactics from a master technician, Bernard Hopkins, for a decade as second in command to Bouie Fisher, hold the recipe to hand Floyd his first loss? Or will Mayweather, an ace at assessing the pace, the tone, the strengths and weaknesses in a foe, simply do just enough in enough rounds to come away with a squeaker of a win?

We know that Floyd doesn't much care to amass style points, or seek to give the fans what they want, the back and forth trading, the majestic ebb and flow of a classic bout. He typically looks to close the show when the invitation to do so is wide enough to fit a bulldozer. But perhaps Mosley will press him more than others, and force Floyd to exchange more than the half-handful times he's typically made to do in a typical outing.

Fifty two times, Mosley has gloved up, and he knows the taste from the sour chalice of loss. Five times he's been on the wrong end of it..but Mosley fans figure that he cannot get much more amped, much more incentivized to turn in the performance of his lifetime. But he's 38. He has a steroid situation looming over him, after choosing to pursue steroid peddler Victor Conte, who sold Mosley PEDs in 2003, for defamation. Is it possible that deal doesn't drain him mentally, as it simultaneously drains his cash stash, as the attorney meter keeps on chugging? He's just off a split with his wife; one wonders if that could actually serve as a net plus, since the rumor mill tells us that the missus has served as a divisive influence on the boxer for a long while.

And let's consider that Mayweather is no babe. He's 33, though he still has that baby face, and still has that hyperactive demeanor that has him coming off as a teenager, one who hasn't tasted loss, hasn't been humbled by fate, feels invincible. Might he look 33 years old on Saturday? Might his superlative reflexes be a half measure off? Might a Mosley hook that he would've slipped two years ago hit home, buzz him, put him in a worried state, a wounded state, that he hasn't felt in...lord, when was the last time someone buzzed Mayweather, the best defender in the game today, and among the best of all-time?

Please leave your impressions leading up to the biggest bout of 2010.

Drop your prediction, including round, and score, here.

Source: thesweetscience.com

Mayweather and Mosley arrive for big fight weekend -- Las Vegas Sun

By Robin Leach, Las Vegas Sun

Boxing fans from around the world have begun arriving in Las Vegas to see if Floyd Mayweather Jr. holds on to his unblemished record when he battles “Sugar” Shane Mosley on Saturday for the welterweight championship of the world in a 12-round fight at MGM Grand Garden Arena.

The boxers arrived separately yesterday at the big green casino resort in advance of today’s press conferences and Friday’s weigh-in, which is open to fans and the public.

For the record, Floyd has won all 40 of his professional fights -- not one loss! How important is that zero and holding on to the perfect record come Saturday night? We leave that to our sports colleagues at the Las Vegas Sun to comment.

Shane has scored 39 knockouts in his 46 wins and lost only five times, so it is a right royal rumble for the year! And if Floyd wins, does that mean a fight automatically looms with archrival Manny Pacquiao? First there’s a little clause in their mega-millions contract this weekend that gives Shane a rematch, in the event that he loses, within 12 months. That could mean any Manny-Floyd fight would be in 2011 or 2012 because Floyd sticks to his rule of one big fight a year.

Our contributing photographer Tom Donoghue was in the melee yesterday for our photo gallery, and he went through his own archives for the additional shots of 2010 Miss America Caressa Cameron with the two fighters and comedian Jamie Foxx taken at the Super Bowl shortly after she was crowned here at Planet Hollywood. Loyal VDLX reader Richard Corey posted his videos of the arrivals on YouTube.

BTW, it’s official that Miss America will return to Planet Hollywood in January with an announcement of its new TV network partner expected shortly. Tom’s other shot shows his Marine son posed with Shane at the Super Bowl during his leave of duty in Iraq. Tom will be at the Friday afternoon weigh-in, and we’ll post those shots as fast as possible.

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.


Follow Robin Leach on Twitter at Twitter.com/Robin_Leach.

Source: lasvegassun.com

Is Alvarez Mexico’s next great champion? -- Yahoo! Sports

By Kevin Iole, Yahoo! Sports

Richard Schaefer had heard plenty about Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, but he really had no idea what he had when he signed the 19-year-old to a contract with Golden Boy Promotions.

On Sunday, he saw a glimpse of what the future may hold.

Alvarez, an unbeaten teenager who looks like Howdy Doody come to life, made a promotional appearance in Los Angeles on Sunday at Fiesta Broadway, the largest Hispanic festival in the U.S.

Schaefer, the Golden Boy Promotions CEO, could hardly believe the fresh-faced kid he’d met was having such an impact with the crowd.

“I saw him interacting with the people and I’ll be honest with you, it was like he was the Mexican James Dean,” Schaefer said. “I’ve never seen anything like it. The looks, the charisma … My wife is Mexican and she felt it and said you could tell this kid is different.

“It’s difficult to describe, but you’re drawn to him. He’s a captivating personality.”

With a shock of fiery red hair and a face dotted with freckles, Alvarez looks like he stumbled out of Mayberry, N.C.

But this kid is different.

He Mexican, with roots in a country where boxing is a national passion and a nation where the populace worships its biggest stars. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. is a mediocre fighter, but because his father was perhaps the greatest Mexican-born fighter who ever lived, he’s regarded as royalty in Mexico.

But the current generation of great Mexican stars – Erik Morales, Marco Antonio Barrera and Juan Manuel Marquez – are nearing the end of the line of legendary careers.

In their stead may be Alvarez, a wily boxer with surprising pop and even more ring savvy than his 19 years would suggest is possible. He evokes comparisons to the great Cuban welterweight, Hall of Famer Jose “Mantequilla” Napoles, who became one of Mexico’s most popular boxers.

He fights Jose Miguel Cotto in the final undercard bout on Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena before the main event between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Shane Mosley.

It’s a coveted spot on perhaps the year’s biggest card, and it went to a kid who’s not old enough to drop a nickel in one of the casino’s many slot machines.

“It’s a big event and I’m very focused and very motivated,” said Alvarez, who is 31-0-1 with 27 straight wins since a draw in his fifth pro fight when he was all of 15. “It’s a big responsibility, but I’m comfortable that I can deal with it.”

His manager, Chapo Reynoso, chuckles at the suggestion that the attention and the hoopla might be too much for a still-learning teenager to handle.

“You don’t know Canelo,” said Reynoso while grinning.

The question that is unanswered, at least in the U.S., is whether Alvarez really can fight. He’s faced the usual collection of misfits in compiling his gaudy record, but until he gets into the ring against a fighter who can actually punch back, he remains a mystery. The Mexican fan base is desperate for someone to follow in the footsteps of Chavez Sr., Morales and Barrera, among others, and become the star the nation has lacked since age has caught up to them.

Clearly, they’re enamored with him. On Televisa, his ratings are typically 15-16, astronomically high numbers for any boxer, but particularly for one as young and as untested as Alvarez.

“He can fight,” Schaefer said. “The Mexican people are looking for that next big star and they realize Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. won’t be it. But they’ve embraced this kid. The ratings his fights get are similar to the ratings of national soccer games. It’s incredible, really, how passionate they are about him already.”

There have been reports that women have taken to throwing their underwear at him during the fights. Alvarez said he wasn’t aware of it, but the idea that a young woman might do that clearly intrigued him.

“I like it,” he said, grinning impishly. “If they’re doing it, I don’t know about it, but I won’t tell them to stop.”

Source: sports.yahoo.com

Pacquiao denies involvement in Sarangani attacks -- ABS-CBN News

abs-cbnNEWS.com

MANILA, Philippines – International boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao on Wednesday vehemently denied involvement in the attacks involving rival politicians in Sarangani province.

Pacquiao said he has nothing to do with the ambush attempt on Glan Mayor Enrique Yap Jr. last Sunday and the bombing attempt on the convoy of Sarangani Governor Rene Miguel Dominguez last Monday.

He said, however, that the incidents were orchestrated to smear his political campaign in the province where he is running for congressman.

“Talagang klaro namang gumagawa-gawa lang sila ng scenario na makakasira sa akin. Dahil alam nating nagtitiwala sa atin ang mga ‘to, parang ayaw nilang tanggapin na ayaw na sa kanila ng mga tao,” said the boxing champion.

Pacquiao is running against Sarangani's Roy Chiongbian. Yap and Dominguez are political rivals of his party mates.

Ambush try

According to a report by SunStar.com.ph, the ambush attempt on Yap took place 10:58 p.m. Sunday when 6 armed men onboard 2 vehicles blocked Yap's vehicle in Barangay Pangyan, Glan town. Yap overtook the road block and immediately sought police assistance.

A report by SunStar.com.ph said police cited that one of the vehicles used by apprehended suspects in the attempt to ambush Yap was reportedly registered under Pacquiao’s wife, Jinkee.

Police were able to arrest 5 of the suspects.

The arresting team also said they recovered several campaign stickers of Pacquiao along with an M-16 Armalite rifle and a caliber .45 pistol from the two Toyota vans recovered from the suspects.

The arrested suspects, who are currently detained at the Glan police headquarters were identified as Freddie Mendez, Ronald Elorde, Alfredo Macabacyao, Jimmy Mier, and Renante Bangkas.

‘Questionable evidence’

However, Pacquiao’s lawyer, Orlando Salatandre Jr., debunked the report of the arresting team, saying they have no evidence to link the ownership of the vehicle to Jinkee.

“According to them the car belongs to Jinkee, but per record there is no evidence to that affect,” he said.

Although Pacquiao did not admit that the apprehended suspects were his men, it was Salatandre who stands as legal counsel for the detainees.

Salatandre argued that the manner of search was questionable and that the alleged recovered firearms were merely planted.

“For us, we're studying whether or not we'll file a case against the arresting team. There is unlawful arrest and unlawful search,” he said.

Cases still being probed

Sarangani’s police director Senior Supt. Restito Gatera, meanwhile, said the ambush and the bombing cases are still being investigated.

He said their investigators are still probing if both cases were done by a single party.

Gatera added that they are also checking the possible involvement of Moro Islamic Liberation Front's Tokboy Maguid in the attempted bombing of Dominguez’s convoy.

Police cited that Maguid is a bomb expert who has an axe to grind against Dominguez for offering a reward for his arrest. -- With a report from Myrvic Abrasada, ABS-CBN News SOKSARGEN

Source: abs-cbnnews.com

Shane Mosley: Floyd Mayweather's slipped, and I'll show him where in the ring -- Grand Rapids Press

By David Mayo, The Grand Rapids Press

LAS VEGAS -- At some point, at a time to arrive no later than three days hence, the Floyd Mayweather-Shane Mosley fight must become about more than steroid talk, or what BALCO founder Victor Conte says about what Mosley knew about taking banned substances in 2003, or who's fighting for money and who's fighting for glory.

At some point, no later than Saturday night, the first big fight of the new decade reduces to gumption and will -- and amid the plentiful debate about what the 38-year-old Mosley has left, the underdog insists it will be more than people think, and perhaps even more than the 33-year-old Mayweather has.

"I see where he's slipped," Mosley said Tuesday. "And I know there's certain things that's going on with his body that he doesn't understand yet.

"I won't tell him, either. I'll show him."

Mosley sat in a cushy chair at a VIP reception area in MGM Grand, sporting a close-cropped Jheri curl, a pink shirt, white pants and white shoes, cheeks dimpling under the pressure of his pleasant smile, his near-translucent eyes beaming.

He never looks exactly like a fighter when removed from the ring, nor does he carry himself the way one may expect from a fighter.

If there is one overarching truth about the difference between Mayweather and Mosley, it is that not everyone likes Mayweather, but few are ambivalent about him and he has pushed himself into household-name status, while almost everyone likes Mosley, yet he never quite transformed into the super-selling superstar and tends to find himself defaulted into the biggest fights.

That's exactly what happened when Mayweather's talks with Manny Pacquiao fell through, leaving Mosley as the Grand Rapids native's most attractive Plan B.

The prevailing sentiment is that Mayweather-Mosley would have been a much better fight earlier in their careers.

Mosley counters that his 2002-04 slump, when he won once in a six-fight span that included two losses each to Vernon Forrest and Winky Wright, and a no-contest result in a foul-marred fight with Raul Marquez, was the result of life becoming "overbearing sometimes on you."

"The fight game, people don't understand, is mental," he said. "You can be strong and fast, but it's really a mental game. I think that people will just not realize that. Yeah, you can get knocked out with a hard punch, but it's really a mental game. I think, mentally, at that point of my career, you can see I wasn't on top of my game."

Asked what he meant, Mosley suggested that his professional timeline provides the answer -- a clear reference to the failing professional relationship with his father and ex-trainer, Jack, whom he fired after the first loss to Wright in 2004.

John David Jackson trained Mosley for three fights, including another loss to Wright, then Jack Mosley returned for four fights, including a loss to Miguel Cotto. Mosley said he is more comfortable now, in his second fight under Naazim Richardson.

"You have different people come into your life, different trainers come in and do different things, different relationships, everything," Mosley said. "Different things can come into your life that can screw you around a little bit. Once you start finding your way out of it, things start looking different."

Mosley said Mayweather's professional perfection is a dual product of skill and taking the right fights at the right times.

The question is whether Mosley falls into the latter category.

"He might believe that's true and that might be why the fight is taking place. But I know that it's not true," Mosley said.

Saturday night, the truth will be uncovered in 12 rounds or less, and the underdog said he has plenty left to dent that 40-0 record.

"Every time I fight, I'm looking to knock the guy out," he said. "In my mind, I look at it as a knockout. And if it's not a knockout, then I'll put the 12 rounds in the bank and win in 12 rounds."

E-mail David Mayo: dmayo@grpress.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/David_Mayo

Shane Mosley tries to take Floyd Mayweather's trash talk in stride

Source: mlive.com

Manny Pacquaio will need to box clever -- The Guardian

By Mark Rice-Oxley, Guardian.co.uk

Manny beware. The man generally considered to be the greatest pound-for-pound boxer in the world is hoping to make the leap from pugilist to politician, with a run for the Philippines congress.

But sportsmen generally don't make good statesmen. Yes, they have plenty of natural advantages: a large support base, widespread recognition, sometimes money, presence, and an undeniable will to win. But of the scores who have tried to reinvent themselves, you could count the genuine successes on the finger of one hand. Perhaps it's the subtleties, the policy nuances, the shifting allegiances that stump them. Perhaps it's that most are used to simple win-or-lose formula that rarely apply in politics.

Or perhaps it's simply that the public prefers its heroes to be raising cups and trophies, not issues.

Imran Khan, Pakistan

Pakistan's foremost sporting hero through the 1970s and 1980s, Khan led his country to its only World Cup triumph in 1992. He swapped a playboy lifestyle for politics, but pace and swing on the field failed to convert into momentum and electoral swing off it, and he became a marginal figure, notable chiefly for criticising everyone but himself.

George Weah, Liberia

Another poor boy made good, Weah was in his day Africa's most exciting footballer, a World Footballer of the Year, who again struggled to dazzle off the pitch. His 2005 run for president promised a fairytale ending when he won the first round, but he lost a run-off to Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. A second bid for the presidency has not been ruled out.

Menzies Campbell

One of the few whose political career eclipsed his sprinting achievements, he stopped running for Britain after the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and started running for the Liberals, later the Lib Dems.

Sebastian (Lord) Coe, UK

The Olympic double-gold medallist was elected to parliament in 1992, became a life peer in 2000 and helped London win the 2012 games.

Bernard Laporte, France

Rugby union scrum half who served Nicolas Sarkozy as sports secretary.

Bill Bradley, US

An NBA star in the 1970s, he rapidly reinvented himself as a Democrat politician, winning a Senate race within a year of retiring in 1977. After three terms he tried, and failed, to secure the Democrat nomination for the 2000 presidential election.

Colin (Lord) Moynihan

An Olympic silver medallist in Moscow in 1980 who swapped a cox's seat in the men's rowing eight for a safe Conservative seat in parliament.

Source: guardian.co.uk