Following his draw with Sergio Mora last Saturday, many have called for Shane Mosley to hang up his gloves, believing that he no longer possesses the level required to compete with the best. Indeed, a lot of the post-fight reports commented on how Mosley "looked his age" during the bout, despite the fact that most of the press who were ringside scored the fight in his favor with only Ring's Doug Fischer scoring the fight widely for Mora. In my opinion, most fighters would have trouble with Mora. It's hard to land clean punches on him as he is constantly moving his upper body and uses good footwork to maneuver around the ring. It should not have come as a surprise that Mosley accepted a fight with a guy like Mora, who has a very awkward style and is difficult to hit clean. So the question is, will Shane Mosley retire as many in the media are urging him to do. His post-fight comments would suggest otherwise as he has indicated that he plans to continue his boxing career and is looking to possibly fight the winner of November's Manny Pacquiao vs Antonio Margarito fight or have a rematch with Miguel Cotto.
Shane Mosley is the type of fighter who doesn't back down from challenges and if you tell him he can't do something, he'll try to prove you wrong. How many fighters would have gone straight into a rematch with Vernon Forrest or Winky Wright after being decisively beaten by both? That epitomizes Mosley's courage and belief in his own ability. In the rematches, Mosley fought much better and the scores were close, even if the second fight with Forrest was far from entertaining. Sugar Shane is clearly most effective at welterweight, yet does not shy away from stepping up to light-middleweight if necessary.
If we go back to January 2009, he stepped into the ring with a man who, at the time, was heavily avoided and considered to have one of the best chins in the entire sport, Antonio Margarito. Before the fight, many predicted that Mosley would lose and possibly get stopped for the first time in his career. However, that night, he produced one of the most impressive performances of his career and turned back the clock, looking almost 10 years younger.
While he was outclassed by Floyd Mayweather, surely there is no doubt that the 16 month layoff between the beating he inflicted upon Margarito and his bout with "Money" this past May had more of an effect on him than he may have thought. That is without wishing to take anything away from the brilliance of Mayweather's performance that night.
Now it seems that Andre Berto is interested in fighting Mosley after it was widely reported that he turned down an offer to face him before the offer was made to Sergio Mora. There is now a perception that Mosley is somewhat past it, so don't be surprised to see more fighters calling him out who previously didn't, perhaps thinking they can get a big name on their record. Also, don't be surprised if "Sugar" Shane pulls out one more great victory before he finally does hang up the gloves. Despite the many calls for his retirement, he has surely earned the right to go out on his own terms...when the time is right for him.