In May, Floyd Mayweather, Jr. will vacate his Welterweight Title to fight Oscar De La Hoya. On Saturday night, February 10, 2007, “Sugar” Shane Mosley put himself in prime position to inherit that title with his spectacular unanimous decision win over highly respected contender and former Welterweight champion, Luis Collazo.
In a bout at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas that was promoted as an Eliminator to Welterweight Mayweather’s title, though odds makers in Vegas favored him, not everyone was sure 35-year-old Mosley was equipped to out box Collazo, who is 10 years his junior.
This doubt was not unfounded since Collazo is a southpaw noted for his speed, said to be similar to the legendary quickness of Mosley himself, and a warrior in every sense of the word. But, when the bell rang at the end of round twelve everyone was a believer in the rebirth of “Sugar” Shane’s talent, finesse, and determination to win.
Until his double-header wins over Fernando Vargas in 2006, some in the boxing world were starting to write Shane off as a ‘has been’. This, despite his unique posture as the only boxer who twice defeated boxing’s “Golden Boy”, Oscar De La Hoya, and the fact Mosley held championships in three different divisions; lightweight, welterweight and junior middleweight.
A believer in rematches; both giving and being entitled to them, Mosley experienced back-to- back losses that cost him the cherished Jr. Middleweight Title he had won from De La Hoya in a match with Vernon Forrest in January 2002 and was unable to regain that title when he lost again to Forrest in a rematch in July of the same year.
Although he was able to regain the title in his highly contested rematch with De La Hoya in September of 2003, he would lose it again to Ronald “Winky” Wright in March 2004 and, as with his bouts with Forrest, he would not be able to regain it in the Wright rematch later that year in November.
That was when the whispers started that Shane’s fans had certainly seen his better days already and they continued until he stepped into the ring with Fernando Vargas in February 2006. In both that fight, and its rematch in July 2006, eyebrows began to rise. Was this just happenstance? Twice? Or was “Sugar” Shane, then 34, taking on the characteristics of a Phoenix? Was he rising from what surely looked like the ashes of his career?
With his performance against Collazo on February 10, 2007 the answer to those questions are unequivocal. No, it was not happenstance, twice was evidence to punctuate he still had it, and, yes, his career is once again rising, but not from the ashes but from the heights he’s accustomed to cruising. It appears at age 35, “Sugar” Shane Mosley is just getting his second wind.
Who is next for him? That is yet to be determined, but what would certainly be entertaining, and would promise to be one of those legendary bouts that swell purses and pack houses, would be a match up between “Sugar” Shane and the victor of the May 2006 battle between Floyd Mayweather, Jr. and Oscar De La Hoya.
Maybe this time, if it is De La Hoya, Shane wouldn’t pass up $10 million dollars for that third rematch, and, if it is Mayweather, it is almost certain the competitor in Shane would not be able to resist the challenge of an opportunity to prove he’s the best, regardless of weight class.
