Mosley's famous last words

Before Sugar Shane Mosley took on WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas last Saturday night, he exuded confidence in defying the odds to score a major upset.

Bettors, of course, didn’t believe him because on the day of the fight, the odds favoring Pacquiao even went higher from 8-1 to 11-1. Still, Mosley couldn’t be brushed off. As a future Hall of Famer, Mosley wanted to prove a point – like he did against Antonio Margarito in 2009, showing knockout power despite “old” age. Sugar Shane was out to shock the world and declare that at 39, he could bring down the world’s No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter who is seven years younger.

Mosley did most of his talking in internet fora, refuting comments from skeptics by boldly forecasting a victory over Pacquiao. It was his way of letting off steam because whenever he joined Pacquiao in a public appearance, Mosley was as meek as a lamb. Mosley obviously didn’t relish the thought of receiving hate mail from Pacquiao’s legion of fans by a frontal confrontation.

Michael Woods, writing in “ESPN – The Magazine” (May 16, 2011), quoted Mosley barking in several message boards. Here were some of his rantings:

“I’ll be trying hard to beat Pacquiao in dramatic fashion. I’m very confident I can pull it off because of styles. Pacquiao isn’t a boxer like Mayweather is – he can’t move like Mayweather. We’re both fighters. That’s what’ll make this fight great.

“Body shots definitely slow any fighter down. When I fought Margarito, I hit him to the body and he slowed down. And I have a better chance of hitting Pacquiao on the button than Margarito.

“When Pacquiao fought Margarito, he got hit more than he did before and Margarito couldn’t hit me. I was 37 at the time. They said the same thing before the Margarito fight (that he’s not the same fighter he once was), I still beat him.

“Some say if I beat Pacquiao, the (drug) issue will die down. But they said the same before I fought Margarito and people are still talking about it. It’s lies, lies and more lies. The performance enhancer was a past thing. That was 2003. It’s been asked and answered.”

The way Mosley wrote, it was like he got caught in a time warp. Mosley thought he could do to Pacquiao what he did to Margarito, Fernando Vargas, Ricardo Mayorga and his other knockout victims. He refused to recognize that in his last two fights before facing Pacquiao, the signs of slippage and slowing down were evident. Age had become a critical factor. Wear and tear, too.

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Along press row, there was speculation that Mosley has to keep fighting beyond his serviceable years because of bills to pay, primarily what he coughs up in alimony to former Korean-Irish American wife Jin Sheehan with whom he has three children. He also has a new significant other, a curvaceous Cuban-Mexican model Bella Gonzalez who probably won’t settle for movie and cheap dates.

Mosley, however, said he’s not hard up for cash. “Since 1998, I’ve been making millions for each fight – $4.5 Million, $4.5 Million, $1.5 Million,” he said in the internet, quoted by Woods. “I’m still a multi, multi millionaire.”

Fighting Pacquiao fattened up Mosley’s bank account by at least $5 Million. Depending on pay-per-view sales, he could take home over a million more. Sugar Shane would’ve been paid $15 Million in a rematch if he beat Pacquiao but that wasn’t written in the stars.

Mosley’s trainer Naazim Richardson has often said that Sugar Shane has a high boxing IQ. More than that, Mosley is a realist who couldn’t care less about the fans and wouldn’t risk permanent injury in the ring. Against Pacquiao, Mosley found out in the third round, he could get badly hurt. He was floored by a left and lost his confidence. From that point on, Mosley fought cautiously, defensively and shamefully. He ran away from Pacquiao. Fans booed but Mosley didn’t mind the jeers – he wanted to enjoy his paycheck with his faculties intact, not like Margarito who was hospitalized with a career-threatening fractured orbital bone after the beating from Pacquiao. At least, Margarito walked away proudly. You couldn’t say the same for Mosley.

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It appeared that Pacquiao sensed Mosley’s fright. A fighter sees that from an opponent. The eyes give him away. There was never any animosity leading to the bout and the friendly nature of the main event dampened the drama of the conflict. Pacquiao is naturally kind-hearted and it showed in letting Mosley off the hook. Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach said pain in Pacquiao’s left calf muscle restricted his movement and allowed Mosley to scurry to safety. But Roach himself was recently quoted by Greg Heakes as insinuating that Pacquiao sometimes is too kind.

“I saw him ask Margarito if he was OK during the fight,” said Roach. “Manny became friends with Margarito through the 12 rounds. He also does that with his sparring partners and that is why I change the guys. He will get to a point, like with Margarito, where the challenge isn’t there and he will go into auto pilot and just win the rounds. I tell Manny don’t become friends with them because one punch can change everything. I also say you make more money when you knock them out.”

After bowing to Pacquiao by a lopsided decision, Mosley said, “You can’t blame age...Manny is an exceptional fighter, he truly is the pound-for-pound king ... he has speed and power that I have never felt before ... it’s amazing, he’s cut from my cloth so I had to box, he surprised me with that power with that knockdown, that’s the most legitimate knockdown on me in a long time.”

Only Vernon Forrest had decked Mosley before and did it twice in the second round in a 2002 bout that Sugar Shane lost on points.

Where does Mosley go from here? The clamor is for him to retire because if not, he’ll end up fighting in small-club smokers for peanuts. Big-time promoters wouldn’t invest in Mosley. His marketability is now a thing of the past. If Mosley is financially secure as he claims, then there isn’t anything else to fight for. He’s destined for the Hall of Fame notwithstanding the loss to Pacquiao. Sugar Shane became Sugarless Shame last Saturday. Whatever the reason for the loss is irrelevant. It could’ve been age. It could’ve been Pacquiao’s superiority. It could’ve been Mosley’s lack of heart. The fact is Mosley short-changed the fans by running scared and for that, he owes it to boxing to quit for good.