"Mora is the bigger guy. He's never been at the level Shane has been at in his career, from the amateurs to the pros. I give Mora a lot of credit for what he's done. He's a good kid inside and outside of the ring. And he's good for boxing. He had a great opportunity with The Contender show and that was a great opportunity for him and for other guys. They took advantage of that and I'm glad for them for that. But he's never really been able to be quite at the level or have the career that Shane's had and he hasn't fought the level of guys that Shane has been able to fight. But he's a naturally bigger guy and that's going to serve him. And let's be honest, it's the time in his career where Shane is past the best that he's had. I would think that he's past the best part of his career and the best performances of his career are in the review mirror," stated ESPN commentator and world-class trainer Teddy Atlas as he shared his thoughts on this weekend's clash between Shane Mosley and Sergio Mora. In part 2 of this in-depth exclusive, Atlas discusses his take on the fight, some of the reason's why Mosley performed so poorly against Mayweather, and much, much more. Check it out!
PC: If you don't want to say Shane Mosley's back is up against the wall, you could definitely say his fight on Saturday night against Sergio Mora is very important coming off of the Mayweather loss. Stylistically, this could be a dangerous fight for him. How do you see the fight going?
TA: First of all, Mora is the bigger guy. He's never been at the level Shane has been at in his career, from the amateurs to the pros. I give Mora a lot of credit for what he's done. He's a good kid inside and outside of the ring. And he's good for boxing. He had a great opportunity with The Contender show and that was a great opportunity for him and for other guys. They took advantage of that and I'm glad for them for that. But he's never really been able to be quite at the level or have the career that Shane's had and he hasn't fought the level of guys that Shane has been able to fight. But he's a naturally bigger guy and that's going to serve him. And let's be honest, it's the time in his career where Shane is past the best that he's had. I would think that he's past the best part of his career and the best performances of his career are in the review mirror.
And to be honest, I like Shane and I like what he has done inside and outside of the ring, and he's been nothing but good for the sport of boxing, but here is a guy that...some people don't like to speak the truth because they think folks will get mad at them or they think they are not going to be accessible to certain things or they are not going to be a part of a club or whatever, so they don't say it because of a relationship or whatever, but people should be taught these things across the board and that's if you know something, that should be a part of what you're talking about. We know that Shane had a point in his career where he had used PED's. We know that he was on the Balco list. We know that. That's not an opinion or speculation; it's a fact. We're not trying to drown him in that or prosecute him again or put him through that, but it is a part of his past. And you have to wonder when you're looking at these kinds of fights and handicapping a fight like this, and you just finish watching him perform as bad as he's ever performed in his career against Mayweather, and that was a fight where he was forced to make himself available for drug testing; if he had any thought of taking PED's, he wouldn't have been able to take them for that fight. And then you see that kind of performance and maybe he got old, maybe Mayweather was just that far ahead of him with speed, or maybe it's the first time we've seen him in quite awhile...and again, a lot of people don't like to face the truth and they don't want to hear this, but if that's the case, we shouldn't talk about any of it. If we're going to leave out parts, then, if we're going to leave out parts that might make people uncomfortable, then why should we talk about it at all?
PC: I agree 100%.
TA: If we're going to talk about it, we gotta talk about it in its entirety or it's just not fair. It's a bunch of bull crap. If we're going to talk about it, we gotta say, "Hey, we love Shane, he's been great, but we know that he was involved in taking PED's. We know that for a fact." Now, is this the first time we've seen him for awhile without the advantage of taking those? Was that a part of his lack of performance? It's probable. I don't know. But we do know that he could not take them for that fight against Mayweather because of the testing situation, and then he physically looked different. He didn't look as good physically. It looked like his confidence level wasn't the confidence level of Shane Mosley. Was that all because he was in there with Mayweather? I find that hard to believe. Shane Mosley has been in there with top fighters his whole life and suddenly he goes in there and doesn't have the confidence and domain that he was born into? That he has been successful in for his whole life? There has to be a reason for that and one of the possible reasons may be that it was the first time in quite awhile that we saw him without the advantage of PED's.
BE SURE TO ALSO CHECK OUT PART 1 OF THIS EXCLUSIVE IN-DEPTH INTERVIEW WITH TEDDY ATLAS
Also, be sure to check out ESPN3.com for future boxing events.
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