Shane Mosley: Where's the "Sugar"?
Shane Mosley, who was once a sure fire legend, is now floating around the out most atmospheric bubble of boxing. What came of the premonitions that Mosley would be the next great “Sugar”?Flash Back: When Shane fought for his first world title, he was less than spectacular going the distance with Philip Holiday for the IBF Lightweight Title. One of Shane’s biggest pro-active fans that night was Larry Merchant. When Larry falls in love with a fighter (Be it because of a fighter’s rock hard chest or throw back to old glory memories) he practically flounders all over them like a kid in candy store. Shane won that fight, but attributed a lackluster performance to a virus.
After a relatively short reign at lightweight, Mosley moved up to the welterweight division to take on “The Golden Boy” Oscar De La Hoya. Oscar was an opponent Shane had beaten in the amateurs so the reasoning was Shane could probably beat him again. That reasoning was spot on so, in a hotly contested battle, Shane took the WBC, IBA title from De La Hoya.
Since his win over De La Hoya, the new reasoning was Shane would be 5 times bigger than De La Hoya ever could be; a mega star among stars! Shane was supposed to be the next best thing since Sugar Ray Robinson, though IMO, that’s saying TO MUCH!!!
Flash Forward: Taking another glance at what once
was thought a sure fire super star, “Sugar” Shane is far removed from any kind of glory resembling the likes of “Sugar” Ray Robinson, ‘Sugar” Ray Leonard, or even Oscar De La Hoya! Upon taking a look back on Shane’s resume, the only fighters of note that Shane beaten was “The Golden Boy”. Sure, there’s Vernon "The Viper" Forrest (Whom Shane lost to in the amateurs) and Ronald “Winky” Wright, but he lost TWICE to both fighters convincingly.
IMO, Shane tried to rise too fast in his fight career for fame and fortune. IMO, he was trying to hard to catch up too Oscar De La Hoya and surpass him for ol glory.
Though analyzing Shane today, it seems like he’s ripening as a complete fighter. With his win
over "Ferocious" Fernando Vargas, Shane looks like he is finally coming into his own. He is seasoned, experienced and still possesses that shot gun speed. Contrary to popular observations, it is proven Shane does not have tremendous power in either hand, but he can rock an opponent to the body. Mosley could never get off the ground quite like his other welter/super welter predecessors De La Hoya or
The Glory that was prophesied about Mosley never revealed its spoken potential. Shane is a good fighter albeit, but not the prophesied “Sugar” of his name sake in legends past, not even close.
The “Sugars” of legends past knew how to get themselves out of adverse situations and pull out the win in spectacular fashion. Shane had his chance with his bouts vs. Vernon Forrest or Ronald Wright. It is to late for anybody to make any convincing debate that “Sugar” Shane can hold a candle to his name sakes. He had his chance with his past foes to make any convincing argument. It's not to late to make the most of his waning career and take on the most lucrative matches before he goes the way of the do do bird.
To sum it all up, Mosley is who he is; a pretty good fighter who deserves to be champion, but not a legend.
posted by Bob at 7:36 AM
5 Comments:
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You know I for one agree with you on this. We were in unison about this way back. How Mosley skipped the whole 140 lb devision just for a shot at glory at welter. We haven't seen Mosley in with Ike "Bazooka" Quartey, Jose Luiz Lopez or Trinidad.
After defeating DeLahoya for the first time, Shane was all smiles but now that he had defeated Oscar, where was he to go?
His age and his career reflected that he still had plenty of life in both aspects so now that he climbed that hill (Delahoya), where was he to go? Destiny revealed he had to go into deeper unfamiliar waters. He had to defend his title and status now. That meant fighting fighters he couldn't be sure he could actually beat! What now Shane Mosley?! Enter Vernon Forrest! A man who actually beat him in the amateurs just as Shane had beaten Oscar. The addage, "What comes around goes around" couldn't ring truer or be sweeter. Just as Sugar Ray Leonard couldn't side step Thomas hearns, Shane couldn't side step this challange. He had a belt and reputation to uphold. I wonder what shane was thinking when he signed to fight forrest? I wonder what he was thinking when he ate that huge right uppercut against the ropes?!
I can only utter the words "Haha!"
With De Lahoya, Shane moved up in weight to fight a fight that he was fairly confident he could win .. but I don't think he was thinking about the aftermath that step to solidify a legacy would take.
We now know the results. I guess this is a long winded reply to say, "I told you so". :)
LOL! Nice response man, It just ties in with the story.
This response is a nice filler at that and there is no hiding the truth when the motives are clear.
To bad Shane tried to follow Oscar De La Hoya's coat tail and steal some one elses destiny that wasn't his to follow.
Shane had his own destiny but failed to live up to it. To bad for Shane. To bad.
I'm in like Flynn!
Yer, Shane doesn't even diserve the name Sugar! Greats like Leonard and Robinson deserved a name like that but in my eyes Shane Mosely doesn't; he ducked fights he couldn't win and basically didn't have the balls to be a true champion!
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