28.12.06 – By Jim Amato: I like Sugar Shane Mosley, and I clearly think he has been good for boxing. Without a doubt, he was a fine lightweight champion, who jumped right to welterweight and defeated the “Golden Boy”, Oscar De La Hoya, not once but twice. However, Mosley has had his ups and downs since. The two losses to Vernon Forrest at 147 and two more Winky Wright at 154. In beween those losses, he beat Oscar again at 154. He returned to form recently at junior middlewight by twice halting Fernando Vegas. Now, Mosley is going back to welterweight and he will be meeting once beaten Kermit Cintron for the IBF version of the title on February 10th, in Las Vegas. Is Cintron the best welterweight in the world? No, in fact, he was destroyed in five rounds by WBO titleholder Antonio Margarito in 2005.
Mosley will be returning to 147 pounds, where he feels he is at his best. He has announced that he is ready for the elite welterweights, be it Cintron, Antonio Margarito or Miguel Cotto. Is he, in fact, really ready? Has he done enough to deserve a title shot?
First off, in my opinion, Mosley does deserve a title shot. He has been a major player for a long time and whoever meets Mosley will probably get a nice chunk of change. Mosley has marque value and his name on their record would look impressive. Is Shane ready to fight Cintron, Margarito, Cotto or even Floyd Mayweather Jr.? Well, that’s a tough one. Shane has lost some of that great hand speed. He is also easier to hit then in days gone by, and is still very, very strong and that strength could prove troublesome to Cintron and Mayweather Jr.
Margarito and Cotto are very strong welterweights but they are slower then Floyd, Kermit and Shane. Margarito and Cotto are devastating punchers and although Shane has a respectable chin, he has been floored and hurt in some of his fights. Still, Margarito can be outboxed as Joshua Clottey recently proved. Anyway, it looks like Margarito will be meeting Miguel Cotto in June. That should be a barn burner.
How do I like his chances? I say his best bet would be Cintron. Kermit has a good jab and basic skills. He is also a decent hitter but he could be out muscled and out speeded by Mosley. Also, Cintron’s chin is OK but he’s no Jake LaMotta. Clearly, he fell apart against Margarito.
If Mosley does beat Cintron, that opens the door for bouts with the winner of Margarito/Cotto or with the winner of Mayweather/De La Hoya. Shane may be shaking things up.