"You know, he just destroyed Margarito; I destroyed Margarito. It only makes sense if the two guys who destoyed Margarito come together and fight. Margarito dusted off Cotto. Margarito dusted off everybody else, but he got knocked out by me and he got destroyed by Pacquiao. It's only right. Me and Pacquiao never fought each other, styles makes fight, so let's see what happens...Freddie knows I'm a smart fighter and he knows that I'm strong. He knows me and Freddie is scared of Pacquiao fighting me. I figured out what he showed Pacquiao already and, you know, there's going to be some problems and he knows that. Freddie watched me and he knows me. He knows that I can fight different styles; he knows all that stuff. He knows the way Pacquiao fights, he knows how I fight, and the clash is very dangerous because Pacquiao comes out and Pacquiao wants to fight. That makes it very dangerous for Pacquiao to fight me," stated three-division world champion Shane Mosley as he shared his thoughts on a potential clash with Manny Pacquiao. You don't want to miss what else he had to say as Mosley talks more about Pacquiao, his current situation with Golden Boy Promotions and much more. Check it out!
BT: So what's good Shane? You got a lot of shake-ups going on my man. You brought J. Prince in, I heard you and Judd Burstein are done, so what's the story?
SM: (Laughing) Well, me and Judd aren't really done. We're still cool and friends and stuff, but I think he just wanted to tone it down because of the relationship with Golden Boy. The reason why I had to go solo, and basically on my own, is because Golden Boy and Judd have a problem with Top Rank and Top Rank has 3 guys I can fight: Cotto, Margarito and Pacquiao. So basically, I told them, "Look, y'all can't go to them and get that fight for me, so I'm going to have to do it myself."
BT: From my understanding, you and Bernard have been, for the most part, free agents for a long time...
SM: (Cutting in) For 2 years!
BT: Right. That's what I thought. Even before you fought Margarito, you were a free agent at the time.
SM: Exactly! I could've went any way I wanted to from way back when, but I said, "Alright, no, I'm sticking it through. I'm a partner at Golden Boy and I'm going to try to work with them." But this fight with Pacquiao could potentially be anywhere from 6-10 million dollars that they can't get for me, so I have to do it myself. So what I did was I hired J. Prince as an advisor to help me negotiate and help me talk with Bob Arum. That's what James Prince came in as; as an advisor to help me out and talk with them and get that fight because Richard Schaefer and Judd [Burstein] can't go in there and talk to them because they don't like each other.
BT: So because they don't talk and get along, that's basically preventing you from earning a living.
SM: Exactly! They stop me from doing what I gotta do. I'm like, okay, well, these 3 guys [Pacquiao, Cotto and Margarito] are who I need to fight, unless they want me to fight Juan Manuel Marquez. So now, they say, "Well, come talk to us, Bob Arum, about Marquez." I'm like, "Well, if Bob won't talk to you about me, why would he come talk to you about Marquez?" But it's like, if that's the case, if you all [Golden Boy Promotions] want to put Marquez up [against Pacquiao], then you could've put Marquez up against me. We could've fought if you guys want to keep it in-house.
But we're not even going to go there because I know I'm out of his weight class. Yeah, I understand that. I'm out of his weight class, but Pacquiao's not out of his weight class? What's going on with that? You know, he just destroyed Margarito; I destroyed Margarito. It only makes sense if the two guys who destoyed Margarito come together and fight. Margarito dusted off Cotto. Margarito dusted off everybody else, but he got knocked out by me and he got destroyed by Pacquiao. It's only right. Me and Pacquiao never fought each other, styles makes fight, so let's see what happens.
BT: Well Richard [Schaefer] made it sound like he's been trying hard to get a hold of you to talk, but you're not answering. Have you had a chance to talk to him about all of this?
SM: Oh, I called Richard. I called him. He was sick one time. Then he was on vacation. Richard is always doing stuff. He's always busy, so I said, "Alright, you know what? Forget this. I'm about to go ahead and do my thing then." It's just something I had to do.
BT: So how receptive does Bob Arum sound about the possibility of working with you again in the future?
SM: Bob is cool. Bob is cool with me all the way through. He's always been cool with me though, from day one. When Bob had Oscar and all that, I always got the first-class treatment all the time; even when I fought Oscar in 2000. When he had Oscar, when he had Margarito, it was always first-class. Bob and the family always liked me anyway because they're over there in California. He's known me from back in the day.
BT: Marquez was lobbying hard for a third fight with Pacquiao, but I thought I read somewhere that Manny said he preferred to fight you next, assuming he can't get the fight with Mayweather of course.
SM: Yeah, Pacquiao said he wasn't doing the fight with Marquez. Pacquiao said he wanted me.
BT: Freddie Roach didn't really sound quite as eager to make that fight with you. He said he thought it would be a blowout, but something tells me that there's a lot more to it than that.
SM: Freddie don't like that fight and I'm going to tell you why. Freddie knows me. I've been in the Wildcard Gym for a long time, back when James Toney was there and all that. I sparred with everybody at that gym - big, small, whatever - and Freddie knows I'm a smart fighter and he knows that I'm strong. He knows me and Freddie is scared of Pacquiao fighting me. I figured out what he showed Pacquiao already and, you know, there's going to be some problems and he knows that. Freddie watched me and he knows me. He knows that I can fight different styles; he knows all that stuff. He knows the way Pacquiao fights, he knows how I fight, and the clash is very dangerous because Pacquiao comes out and Pacquiao wants to fight. That makes it very dangerous for Pacquiao to fight me.
BT: Well, I know there's people out there that are saying they don't like the fight, but personally, I think it's a great matchup of styles that's sure to produce fireworks. What do you say to those people who think Pacquiao should be fighting someone else?
SM: All you have to do is put on the video of me fighting Margarito and Pacquiao fighting Margarito. Just put on both of the fights. We both did pretty much the same thing to Margarito. He cut his eye open and I knocked him out. He cut him up and broke his eye socket; I broke his body and I knocked him out. He's never been knocked out before, Margarito. Pacquiao didn't knock him out. I'm the only one that knocked him out in his whole boxing career.
BT: So let's say you do get that fight with Pacquiao. Your last fight took place at 154. Pacquiao just beat Margarito for the 154-pound title, so is that a fight that takes place at a catchweight or would you be going back down to welterweight?
SM: Well, if he's defending his Jr. Middleweight belt, I can fight him at 148. That's fine with me.
BT: (Laughing) I don't know if they care too much about that belt. I have a feeling Freddie Roach will want you to come all the way down to 147.
SM: That's fine. I'm cool with it. I'm 160 right now; about 158, 159, 160 right now, so it's just 10 pounds. I'm really a welterweight.
BT: Before I let you get out of here, tell the fans what you're going to bring to the table that Margarito, Cotto, Hatton and De La Hoya weren't able to bring? Let them know why Shane Mosley is going to be the one to put an end to Pacquiao's incredible run?
SM: With me, it's a different story because Freddie Roach knows that I throw that right hand pretty good and Pacquiao leaves himself open and can get hit. Freddie Roach knows I hit hard. Pacquiao throws all them punches and stuff, but he gets hit. He leaves himself open and that's not good for Pacquiao, especially because I'm strong and I take a good shot too. I'm durable and I hit hard; that's not a good combination for Pacquiao. He's too small to outbox me. I'm not like Margarito. I got longer arms than Margarito; that's why I outboxed Margarito and I outboxed Collazo, who was also a southpaw. My arms are long and I'm still pretty fast. My arms are long, I know how to keep my range, make him come at me, and I can jab him because I'm longer than him. That's going to give him problems.
He might try to box a little bit, but it's not going to happen. When I hit Pacquiao, he wants to fight, just like me, so when I hit him, he's going to start banging his hands or banging his body and doing the Pacquiao thing and he's going to run right at me. He's just like me. He can't sit there and box the whole fight. Pacquiao likes to fight and I like to fight, so he's going to fight me and Freddie Roach knows that. Pacquiao is going to move around a little bit, I'm going to jab him, catch him with a right hand, and boom, he's going to start hitting himself and he's going to want to fight. We're going to be fighting, so something's going to happen.
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