"I don't think the size is going to make a difference. The size is not going to matter. They think it is, but it's not. I think Mayweather and Canelo hit about the same. They have the same speed, the same snap, the had the same feel to their shots. Their shots felt pretty much the same to me...They're going to have to go through probably a chess match," stated three-division world champion "Sugar" Shane Mosley, who shared his thoughts on the highly-anticipated September 14 showdown between Floyd Mayweather and Saul "Canelo" Alvarez. Having been in the ring with both men, Mosley knows a thing or two about what each man can expect when they square off in less than 9 weeks. Check out what he had to say!
BT: Shane, I know you said you're staying neutral as far as Mayweather vs. Canelo goes, but because you've been in there with both fighters, give me an idea of what both guys can expect from the other when they finally meet on September 14.
SM: There's going to be some times where Floyd is gonna be like, "Wow! This kid's pretty good; he's pretty swift." And Canelo's going to be like, "Wow! He's really hard to hit; he's really fast and really good." I think they're both going to have that in their head when they fight each other. They're not going to expect the other to be as good as they are. I think Canelo thinks, "Okay, I'm bigger than him, so I'm going to be able to manhandle him or get close to him and hit him with what I want to." Mayweather believes, "He's a little kid and he's not going to hit me with nothing. He's not fast enough, he's not smart enough, and I'm going to beat him because I'm superior mentally." They're both going to have their issues that they gotta work out inside the ring. Like I said, I'm neutral. I just want them to have a great fight. May the best man win.
BT: They're fighting at a catchweight of 152 pounds. Since you've been in there with both of them, do you think Canelo's size will...
SM: (Cutting in) I don't think the size is going to make a difference. The size is not going to matter. They think it is, but it's not. I think Mayweather and Canelo hit about the same. They have the same speed, the same snap, the had the same feel to their shots. Their shots felt pretty much the same to me. I think that, you know, Canelo's real solid and strong, physically strong, but Mayweather, at the same time, he's not the type of fighter that strength bothers him; being physically strong doesn't bother Mayweather like it does some other fighters because he's not trying to outpower you. They're going to have to go through probably a chess match.
BT: Physically, can you tell the difference in size between Mayweather and Canelo? I mean, as far as strength is concerned, did Mayweather feel weaker than Canelo?
SM: Okay, Floyd is not weak. He's not physically strong like, "Oh my God, he's strong," but at the same time, he's not physciall weak either. He's kind of like, you know, it's not like he's average, but he has some strength. He does have strength, but he's not strong, so he's not as strong as Canelo. Now, the punching power, to me, at that time when I fought Canelo and I fought Floyd, seemed to be about even as far as when they hit. Canelo has more physical strength than Floyd, but it's not like, "Oh my God, he's so much stronger than Floyd." But like I said, it doesn't matter if he's stronger than Floyd anyway because he doesn't care.
BT: So I know you're staying neutral, but I'm sure you have an opinion. Are you going to be able to avoid giving a prediction if you're constantly being asked who you got in the fight?
SM: (Laughing) I would love to stay neutral. What I will say and what I do think, and it can change, but what I think is that Floyd has the experience edge right now, but it's a close fight. It's kind of like a 50/50 fight. Well, 51/49 right now.
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