Shane Mosley Offered Fights With Canelo Alvarez, Amir Khan – “Sugar” Especially Keen On Alvarez Fight

By James Slater: Future Hall of Famer, “Sugar” Shane Mosley, last seen dropping a wide, largely dull 12-round UD to superstar Manny Pacquiao, is not done yet. At least in speaking with Dan Rafael of ESPN.com, the 40-year-old doesn’t think he’s anywhere near done yet.

Rafael, the man with all the news, spoke with the one-time Sugar-Man recently (Mosley hasn’t been as sweet as sugar since his shock, January 2009 stoppage of Antonio Margarito, it must be agreed) and the former welterweight king informed his interviewer about the two fights Golden Boy (Mosley’s former promoter) have just offered him: one with Saul Alvarez, one with Amir Khan.

In a nutshell, Mosley is hugely interested in a fight with the unbeaten, 21-year-old WBC 154-pound champ, and he is pretty lukewarm on the idea of a fight with 24-year-old Khan (largely because, as per Rafael’s report, GB want the fight to be held at 145-pounds – Mosley said “I was thinking 149 or 150 – but I might do it at 147”)

Mosley, almost certainly correctly, feels his best welterweight days are behind him (“Sugar” moved up in 2010, only to have to move back down to 147 for the unsuccessful Pacquiao fight); hence his lack of interest in facing Khan at 145. Even now though, I’d have to give Mosley a shot against Khan in what would be the former 140-pound champ’s welterweight debut. In any case, Rafael thinks a Khan-Mosley fight is a long shot. Who are we to disagree with him?

But Mosley really, really wants to fight Canelo:

“I’m better than anyone he [Canelo] has fought,” Mosley said, undeniably spot-on . “By all means, put me in with him and let me knock him out. To me, Canelo is a warm-up for me to another fight.”

Alvarez, 39-0-1(29) may be no fighter’s warm-up, but it can’t be denied that a fight between he and the ultra-experienced, never-stopped Mosley makes sense in a way. Mosley clearly has ambition still, while Alvarez, though not ready for the elite of the elite (think Mayweather), would score a lot of points that might make fans think he IS ready for the best if he were to KO Mosley (as no-one else ever has, just in case you never knew it!)

In Mexico, or in Las Vegas, an Alvarez-Mosley fight would be huge. Let’s hope this fight gets made, instead of the spectacle that would be a weight-drained Mosley, 46-7-1(39) going up against Khan.

By the way, and by way of an interesting fact and nothing more – it was exactly ten years ago today when an unbeaten, 29-year-old Mosley lost for the first time in his great career; dropping (and being dropped) a 12-round UD to the late Vernon Forrest. Who would have thought Shane would have still been fighting a full decade later!?