When you think of Sugar Shane Mosley, you think of a true warrior in the ring and a gentleman outside of it. A fighter who is willing to fight anyone and give his all the entire fight. Mosley is strong, fast, and always goes for the KO. However, after his last two fights, a decisive decision loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. and a dismal draw with Sergio Mora, many think the end is here for the future Hall of Fame fighter. But is it?
After blazing up the lightweight and welterweight ranks by winning his first 38 fights, mostly by KO, Mosley ran into an old amateur foe in Vernon Forrest. Forrest handed Mosley the first knockdown and loss of his career. Mosley, who never backs down, had an immediate rematch with Forrest and again was defeated by unanimous decision. After back-to-back losses, Mosley had a No Contest against Raul Marquez. Then, after going over 2 years without a win, Mosley bounced back in the win column in a rematch with Oscar De La Hoya. It was a good win for Mosley and showed many that Sugar Shane was still a force in the boxing game.
Never one to back down from a challenge, Mosley challenged Winky Wright to unify the Junior Middleweight division. Wright, the naturally bigger man, proved to be too big, strong, and awkward for Mosley. As always, however, Mosley could not deal with the defeat and took an immediate rematch with Wright, but again losing a decision. The warrior in Mosley didn't complain; he simply went back to what he knew.
Mosley got back in the gym and popped up on the undercard of an ESPN pay-per-view fight where he fought David Estrada. It was not the HBO headlining fights Mosley had become accustomed to, but it was the sacrifice the warrior in Mosley was willing to do to rise back to the top. Another win against a relative unknown in Jose Luis Cruz helped set Mosley up for a HBO PPV headliner against the always popular Fernando Vargas. Mosley got in shape and ended up winning back-to-back fights, both by TKO, against Vargas. Once again, Mosley was back near the top of the Pound-4-Pound lists.
In 2007, Mosley got another HBO PPV headliner against then undefeated WBA Welterweight Champion Miguel Cotto. Although he lost a close decision to Cotto, many believed Mosley did enough to win. In September 2008, Mosley went back to Junior Middleweight and scored a spectacular last second KO of Ricardo Mayorga. The win against Mayorga set Mosley up for one of the biggest wins of his career against Antonio Margarito. Margarito was considered to be the #1 welterweight after stopping Miguel Cotto in July 2008. Mosley, the underdog, came to win that January night. When he walked into the ring, you could feel his determination to prove he was still the best in the world. Mosley stopped the iron chinned Margarito in nine rounds.
After not being able to land a quality fight, and having a fight against Andre Berto fall through, he finally got his big chance. Mosley got the biggest fight in boxing against Floyd Mayweather Jr. Many viewed Mosley as possibly the biggest test of Mayweather's career. However, after 15 months out of the ring, and being 38 years of age, people had their concerns. Mosley appeared to be in great shape and fought well for the first two rounds before being dominated the rest of the way. The warrior in Mosley did not let the loss get to him though as he quickly agreed to go back up to Junior Middleweight to face Sergio Mora.
The fight with Mora was a boring one, and a horrible clash of styles for the action-packed Mosley, that ended in a draw. Many thought Mosley did enough in the fight to deserve the decision and others thought Mora did. However, the consensus did believe Mosley began to show his 39 years of age in the fight and that he should call it a career. But should he?
Mosley has shown a pattern throughout his career of having ups and downs; wins and losses. Mosley wins and shines and then he goes through a rough spell in a couple fight. Without a doubt, you know Mosley can't fight forever, but his history proves that he bounces back up, even when the odds are against him. The question many are wondering is after 54 professional fights, hundreds of amateur fights, and many years of sparring, can Sugar Shane Mosley prove to still be sweet? Right now, we don't know, but if history is any indication, look for Sugar Shane Mosley to bounce back up one more time.
[EDITOR'S NOTE: Be sure to check out more of Elver's work on his personal blog at http://1pound4poundismine.blogspot.com/]