by Francisco Guzman
On Saturday May 1, 2010, Floyd “Money” Mayweather, Jr. is taking on “Sugar” Shane Mosley at the MGM Grand Las Vegas Nevada. The fight had been billed “Who Are You Picking?” because this is one fight where the prediction could go either way. It’s been hard for me to pick a winner based on the intangibles that both fighters have going into this fight. There are questions on both sides that need to be answered. They can only be answered May 1st when both men step into that ring. Mayweather is a gifted fighter who still has youth (33 year old), speed and is still undefeated. A great defensive fighter who is not easy to hit, Mayweather can be a problem to solve for any fighter.
Shane Mosley is past his prime but he has a lot more in his tank than Oscar De La Hoya had when he went up against Mayweather. If you was to compare the opponents Mayweather and Mosley have faced, there is no comparison. Mayweather’s opponents- Henry Bruseles, Demarcus Corley, Arturo Gatti, Sharmba Mitchell, Zab Judah, Carlos Baldomir, Ricky Hatton, are not nearly as tough as Vernon Forrest, Ronald “Winky” Wright, Miguel Cotto, Fernando Vargas, Ricardo Mayorga and Antonio Margarito.
In his loses Mosley was never truly dominated except in the first Forrest fight after suffering a cut and being knocked down for the first time in his professional career. Mayweather has spoken about Mosley’s losses but how would he a fared against those guys is the question? Vernon and Wright were bigger opponents and Cotto, who was undefeated at the time, was probably at the peak of his career. There is no guy on Mayweather’s resume that he can say is tougher or better than those fighters. The one common opponent is Oscar De La Hoya. When Mosley faced Oscar, Oscar was a more seasoned fighter at the peak of his physical condition. By the time Mayweather faced Oscar, Oscar was a full time promoter and a part-time fighter way past his prime. Mosley’s win was clear cut while Mayweather’s was a close split decision.
We have yet to see Mayweather in with a strong capable welterweight so we don’t really know how he is going to deal with an opponent that he can’t control physically and mentally. We have not seen Mayweather deal with adversity and have to dig down deep in any of his fights while Mosley has dealt with it several times in his career. For Mosley, the question is whether he is too past his prime to deal with the younger Mayweather. Does Mosley still have what we saw in his last fight when he destroyed Margarito in January of 2009? The more I look at all the intangibles for this fight the more interesting this fight becomes. I am not a betting guy but you can’t bet against neither of these guys because Mayweather has yet to be beaten and you can’t count Mosley out because he would rather die than to lose.
This Saturday night at the MGM Grand live on HBO PPV we will witness the moment of truth.