Mosley too old to be champ

LAS VEGAS – Shane Mosley made his debut at the MGM Grand eight years ago with his second win over Oscar dela Hoya, then boxing’s golden boy.

Mosley won twice more at the MGM, and in May last year, exactly 368 days ago, he made a return, lost to Floyd Mayweather. Many thought they’d seen the last of him as a boxer.

Just four months after Mayweather, he was back, and took an ugly draw against Sergio Mora at the Staples Center.

Again, retirement crossed the minds of many people, except Mosley.

On Saturday, he returns to boxing’s biggest stage, the MGM, in the biggest fight the sport has to offer, one against the iconic Manny Pacquiao.

In four months Mosley turns 40, maybe too old to be a champion once more, and Tuesday he was back at the grand hotel to officially kick off fight week.

He arrived a little past noon, and inched his way through the jampacked lobby, amid chants of his name, and into the makeshift ring almost filled with mediamen.

It was a homecoming of sorts for Mosley who probably had his best and worst times as a boxer in the golden venue.

But he vowed to bring back the best of times, and shock the world, with a victory over Pacquiao, who just can’t lose Saturday’s fight if you follow the odds.

Mosley said he’d done it before, winning matches he’s not supposed to win, and in four days he’d do it again.

From inside the ring, from one corner to another, he smiled at the fans, raised his hands, faced the cameras and fielded a lot of questions.

Can he beat Pacquiao?

“If I fight Pacquiao and beat him, there will probably have to be another one, because people won’t believe it,” he told the media.

“That would be the best victory at this time,” he added, before comparing Pacquiao, now the pound-for-pound king, and Mayweather, the ex.

He thinks Pacquiao would be an easier foe than the one who beat him in all three scorecards last May.

“Mayweather doesn’t throw a lot of punches, but he throws them at the right time. Manny throws more punches and he throws them at any time.

“That style I believe is going to be more suitable to me,” he said.

That’s his opinion.

Mosley has never been knocked out in 54 fights (46-6-1 with 39 knockouts) but over the past few weeks he’d been counted out many times.

Pacquiao, ever so humble, said it shouldn’t be the case.

“It’s unfair to him,” he told Reuters, because he has “good hand speed, good foot speed, and of course he’s strong. You cannot underestimate Mosley.”

Pacquiao made his way some 30 minutes after Mosley left the ring, his scent and charisma filling the entire lobby.

But he didn’t come here to count his opponent out. 

“A lot of the times people count me out, I tend to become victorious. So, maybe it’s not a good idea to count me out,” said Mosley.

He wasn’t referring to Pacquiao.