"I've met Mayorga a few times and he's been nothing but respectful. I'm curious to see if he will [trash talk] and even if he does, everybody knows that I will talk shit right back, but I'm not going to hold any hard feelings towards him. He's an entertaining fighter. Besides Shane, he's probably the only other fighter I do get excited to watch because I know he always put on a great performance and he's exciting," stated Jin Mosley, wife and manager of Shane Mosley, as she talked about the October 11th clash between Shane and Ricardo Mayorga. Check out what else she had to say as she talks about the cancellation of the Zab Judah fight, what she expects from Mayorga during the promotion of the fight and much more.
PC: How are you doing Jin?
JM: Everything is okay. I'm just busy with the kid's being out of school.
PC: Shane hasn't fought since the Cotto loss in November. How disappointing was the Zab Judah fallout for you?
JM: It was a big disappointment because it's hard enough for us to plan our lives and then when something like that happens, all of the plans that we had for like July, August and September are shot because we have to go back into training. It was a huge disappointment.
PC: Shane had completed a camp when Zab pulled out of the fight, right?
JM: Yes and Shane wasn't notified until a week after the injury. He was very much in camp before he found out. Then it was hard for us to believe that it even happened so he didn't immediately leave camp. It was probably 4 or 5 more days before they were like, "Okay, it's not happening."
PC: Was there any point in the negotiations where you thought you could save the Judah fight and reschedule?
JM: Once we heard about the injury, we weren't sure on how serious it was and we weren't going to cancel it. We just figured everything would work out to make it happen regardless, but when we found out that it wasn't happening, then we wanted to find out, "Okay, when can it happen?" At that point, there were a lot of rumors where people were saying they could extend it 2 weeks, but that was not the case. There are millions of dollars that go into promoting a fight. Banners were made, tickets were sold and there was just so much
I asked around; I asked a bunch of people that have been involved in boxing a lot longer than I have if they had ever seen something like that happen where they just push it back a couple of weeks and they've never seen that. It's just not possible. We had the venue already, which was booked up for months with shows and different things. Once it became a reality that the fight wasn't happening and that it wasn't going to happen in the next couple of months, it was like, "When can it happen?" It wouldn't have been able to happen until September or October and then it was a matter of do we even want to risk
I mean, Shane is on the last leg of his career. Do we want to risk another injury or something else happening again? So we decided to go another route. The plan always was for Shane to fight in May and then again at the end of the year so we had to skip the early fight and go straight to the end of the year.
PC: I'm sure Shane got used to the dirty looks and trash talk being that he completed a press tour with Judah, but Mayorga attacks wives and moms. How will you deal with his taunts if it comes to that?
JM: I'm curious to see if he will. I've met Mayorga a few times and he's been nothing but respectful. I'm curious to see if he will and even if he does, everybody knows that I will talk shit right back, but I'm not going to hold any hard feelings towards him. He's an entertaining fighter. Besides Shane, he's probably the only other fighter I do get excited to watch because I know he always put on a great performance and he's exciting. I watch other fights, but I'm trying to think if there is another fighter that I get excited for. I've always rooted for him. I'm curious to see if he will. I would've thought he would've started already. I've seen him in a different light than other people and I know it's all for hype and to sell tickets. That's not excusing him for the foulness and disrespect, but I know it's just to sell fights and it's exciting. He's funny and nothing he could say can, I hope not at least, irritate me.
PC: Looking at your verbal scrap with Vargas' wife, I don't think you will back down.
JM: No!
PC: You take a lot of heat as far as people thinking you run Shane. Do you think it's a matter of them forgetting you're his manager, as well as his wife, so you have to manage your fighter?
JM: I take a lot of heat A) because it's easy since I'm outspoken and blunt and B) because they don't have anything else negative to say about Shane. He's a decent guy, good dad, good citizen and he hasn't been arrested. That's their only real jab at him. Show me a husband whose wife doesn't tell him what to do. Most of those people that say that either don't have a wife, have never been married or they lie. Any husband I know, whether it's my dad or anybody, I see the wife taking some kind of control. "Okay, we need to go now honey or don't eat that," you know what I mean?
PC: Stylistically, Zab and Mayorga are like night and day to each other. You could've gone with a softer touch southpaw that was a slick boxer to make Shane's adjustment easier. Why did you guys go with Mayorga?
JM: That's another thing people were addressing. People were saying why didn't Shane keep the date and put in another fighter, but all of the other fighters were tied up and he trained 8 weeks for a slick southpaw. It would have been stupid on his part, and my part, to allow that to happen to satisfy the fans or to satisfy the venue. It just would not be smart. The reason we went with Mayorga other than a lesser opponent is because, like I said, Shane is on the last legs of his career. He has a few fights left, less than 5 fights left, and at this point, you know he's been boxing since he was 8 years old. He's always in shape and he spars top notch fighters. He just really wants to fight the best out there. He wants to show everybody that he's a great fighter. He was, still is and always will be.
PC: This fight will be at junior middleweight. As Shane's manager, would you like to see him finish his career as a welterweight?
JM: I would've rather this fight be at 147 because that's his more natural weight. He came up for Vargas and he didn't have any problems because he adjusted slowly. Before, he was making the mistake of bulking up and gaining a lot of weight. He's learned that even if he walks in the ring at around 150 instead of trying to match his opponents in the ring weight at like 162
he's not going into it trying to be at the weight that's expected of him, but more of where his body can still be quick and strong. I don't think for this fight it will be a problem, but I would like for his next fight to be at 147.
PC: Thanks for your time Jin. I know you are a busy woman. Is there anything you would like to say in closing?
JM: I don't really have anything to say. They'll beat me up on the message boards. I want to say thanks to all of my defenders.
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]