"You know, it was a very close fight with him and Paulie. He dropped Paulie. He was chasing Paulie around the ring. I mean, that was still a close fight; it could have gone either way, but it just shows what kind of caliber I am. I'm a legendary fighter and all that stuff, but I still belong in the top at 147. I can beat any of those guys at 147 at any time, so don't try to dismiss me...As of now, I'm ready to fight any and everybody, but I just want to do the right things. I want to fight as much as I can. Maybe we'll take another little fight. This fight right here, I didn't make any money. You know, this fight wasn't for the money. This fight was so I could get back into contention; to show the world I want to fight," stated three-division world champion and future Hall of Famer "Sugar" Shane Mosley, who spoke about his impressive victory over Pablo Cesar Cano, his future plans, and much more. Check it out!
BT: Congratulations on the win down in Mexico, Shane. What did you think about the performance?
SM: Thanks, Ben. I thought they was going to pull a fast one on me (laughing), but I knew I was going to get him.
BT: (Laughing) I hear ya. I know all the judges scored it 115-113, but personally, I thought you put a beating on him. A couple times, I thought you were going to stop him.
SM: Yeah, he was fighting hard, he was tough, but I trained hard, man. I went to the gym with pops and we were working hard training. There's still some things I think I can do better. I learned some stuff in that fight to make me stronger and better in my next fight. I know that I can move my hands a little bit more and I gotta do a little more head movement. I noticed when I got on my toes, I gave him a lot of problems. I had a lot of rhythm and bounce and it gave him a lot of problems, so I think there were certain things that I can use in my other fights.
BT: You looked young, fresh, and energized. I know you were dealing with some injuries in your past couple of fights. How were you feeling physically going into and during this fight?
SM: I felt good for this fight. I was surprised because he's really heavy-handed. He doesn't really look like he punches hard, but he has a decent punch. He's very deceptive. He looks like he's not really doing nothing, but he actually has a little pop at the end of his shots. It was a good fight though. I felt good. I felt like I could move, I felt like I could throw punches, and I felt like I could go the 12 rounds, which I did.
BT: I didn't realize he was that big, but watching the fight on TV, he actually looked bigger than you.
SM: Yeah, he swelled up pretty big. I think that's what happened when he fought Paulie [Malignaggi]. He cracked Paulie pretty good and knocked him down, so it was kind of like the reverse. It was kind of like he was hitting Paulie, but I was chasing him around (laughing).
BT: (Laughing) No doubt. It looked like you made the decision to start walking him down after the 4th round. Was that part of the game plan or did something happen during the fight to make you change up your strategy?
SM: Well, they had open scoring and they had him winning the fight. I think around the 5th round, he was up maybe 1 or 2 points. I was like, "What? He's up? How is he up?" I know I rocked him real good a couple of times before that, you know, I rocked him real good so I should be up. I almost had him out, but they had him up, so I was like, "Aw shit. I gotta work. I gotta get him out of here." I wasn't walking to him because I felt like I could take his best punch; I was walking to him because I had to win the fight. That was what I came to do. I came to win and be world champion.
BT: So the open scoring actually had an impact on your decision to alter your strategy.
SM: Yeah, I thought they were going to try to rob me or make it close or whatever, but I had to go in and go get him. I had to turn the heat up on him and get him out of there. If he could take it, then I had to beat him down or wear him down, so that's what I did.
BT: When it went to the scorecards, were you concerned that you might still get robbed or did you feel like you had done enough to make it crystal clear that you were the victor?
SM: I was real concerned because when you go to a foreign place, you never know what's going to happen and how the judges are going to score it. But, you know, I kind of felt I edged him. I thought I edged him out, but I didn't know what was going to happen, so I was a little nervous with the scorecards. I really wanted to knock him out so we wouldn't have no scorecards. When all judges had it unanimous decision and they said 115-113, I thought, "That's kind of close. I'm not sure." Then whenm they said, "Sugar Shane," I thought, "Thank God!" (Laughing) But I believe I edged him out. I think it was a good, close, but I believe I edge him out. I watched a little bit on TV and seen that I looked a lot better than I felt I was. Looking at it on TV, you could see that I clearly beat him, but just being there and fighting the person, you really don't know because you hear the crowd screaming for him every time he throws a punch, so you don't really know how it's going to turn out, because when I'd throw a punch and it would land, they're not really screaming.
BT: Was there anything that you didn't like about your performance?
SM: My defense probably wasn't as good as it should be, but I think that I just need to go back and look at the fight and check it out. I think I can throw my hands a little bit more, use more power punches. I can move my head a little more. I can be a little be more smarter; put more pressure. There's a lot of little things that I think will benefit me that I can work on.
BT: There were a couple of moments during the fight where I felt like he was ready to go. Did you sense that and feel like you were on the verge of stopping him?
SM: I sensed that a couple of times. I sensed that in the 1st round, I sensed that like in the 6th round; I mean, he was getting wobbled a lot; all the time. I sensed that a lot, but he never went. He had a strong will and strong heart. You know they say that about Mexican fighters; they're real strong and they have strong will, so, I mean, he had all of those to be able to stand up to all that pounding. I take my hat off to him.
BT: I know there were some fans and media that were criticizing your decision to continue fighting and...
SM: (Cutting in) I haven't been on Twitter yet, so I don't really know what the fans or media are saying, but I hope they're apologizing to me and eating crow.
BT: (Laughing) Well, from what I've seen, quite a few people feel like you definitely still have something left in the tank. Looking at your performance, you were doing a lot of things that people had grown accustomed to seeing you do, like digging hooks to the body and landing that right hand upstairs. Do you feel like the old, or should I say young, "Sugar" Shane Mosley is back?
SM: I feel like I see a lot of signs of it, of me, the old "Sugar" Shane Mosley, being back. In that fight, I learned there's a lot of different things I can do to better myself and improve in the next fight. I think that with my father back in the corner with me and me doing things that I'm doing, I see vast improvement coming a lot in my next fight. This was a good fight for me to take for the step to the next fight.
BT: Your dad is back in your corner, you're injury free...was that the combination of things you needed to prove that you could still compete at this level in boxing?
SM: Yeah, you know, you could see that I can move better. I can throw my jab, I can throw my right hand, and everything is landing better. The legs are very important to a fighter. When you don't have any legs, you know, that's when they say, "Oh, he's old. He has no legs. He can't move anymore." They had one thing right, I didn't have any legs, but the other thing, me being old, wasn't the issue. It was the issue of being injured. Now that they [my legs] came back and they're coming back better, now that I'm working with them, I'm able to work out harder, I'm able to run, I'm able to do different things with my legs that I couldn't do before. I was just working more upper body and throwing more punches, so now that I can move, it's going to be a lot harder for these guys to fight me.
BT: Do you think your performance against Cano, who some people believe beat Paulie Malignaggi, has proven the naysayers wrong?
SM: Definitely. You know, it was a very close fight with him and Paulie. He dropped Paulie. He was chasing Paulie around the ring. I mean, that was still a close fight; it could have gone either way, but it just shows what kind of caliber I am. I'm a legendary fighter and all that stuff, but I still belong in the top at 147. I can beat any of those guys at 147 at any time, so don't try to dismiss me as, "Oh, he's just old, he's just riding off his name," and all this other stuff, because that's not the case. I'm here to fight. I'm ready to step in and win a world title. My mission is to fight everybody.
BT: So what's next? Obviously the division is loaded with names. Are you looking to jump right into a title shot or are you looking to improve on some things in another fight first? How do you see your next move playing out?
SM: Well, I'm gonna go back with the team and we're going to talk. Me, J. Prince, my father, and Josh Dublin, we're going to all sit back and map out of plan. As of now, I'm ready to fight any and everybody, but I just want to do the right things. I want to fight as much as I can. Maybe we'll take another little fight. This fight right here, I didn't make any money. You know, this fight wasn't for the money. This fight was so I could get back into contention; to show the world I want to fight. You know, some people just want to come back and fight for money because they didn't have that big name. I'm like, "No. I'm coming here to fight." I'm hungry like a young fighter that's coming up and trying to win a belt. I'm hungry. That's my mentality; that's my attitude. I'm happy. I'm happy that I came out here to Cancun. Pepe Gomez treated me very good. The staff, the hotels, everything out here in Cancun was great. I had a great time. It was vacation. It was work, but it was a vacation.
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