Shane Mosley knows what Floyd Mayweather Jr is....

LAS VEGAS - Shane Mosley knows what Floyd Mayweather, Jr. is. He also knows what he isn't, which is Shane Mosley. The latter fact, he believes, will make a significant difference to Oscar De La Hoya on May 5.

Twice Mosley faced down De La Hoya in closely contested matches, using the same kind of speed that Mayweather possesses to give the six-time world champion significant problems. But it was not speed that Mosley believes allowed him to hold off De La Hoya but something the fighter still called "Little Floyd'' by many in boxing does not possess in the way he did.

"The difference between me and Mayweather is at the time I was fighting Oscar I was a lot stronger than Mayweather is,'' Mosley explained. "I was on the weight lifting team in high school. When I fought Oscar I was benching 315 pounds. I was squatting 500 pounds. For Oscar to come through me wasn't going to be easy. People didn't know I had the strength to keep him off me. That's the question in this fight. Mayweather has speed but so does Oscar, but can Mayweather hit him hard enough to move Oscar back?''

In their second fight, Mosley landed a shot that De La Hoya later conceded he felt in the kind of way that brings caution with it in a sport that does not often reward caution. Mosley does not believe Mayweather can do that and if he can't he could well find himself locked in the same kind of diminishing predicament De La Hoya was in when he unsuccessfully challenged middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins.

In that fight, Hopkins was clearly the bigger and stronger man. A natural middleweight, Hopkins quickly began to sense that De La Hoya could not really hurt him and when he did he began to close the space between them until there was no room for escape. As he did, you could almost feel him sucking the air out of the arena, suffocating the smaller man until he finally dropped him with a nasty body shot. If Mayweather's lack of punching power leads De La Hoya to arrive at the same conclusion about him that Hopkins came to about De La Hoya, then the ring could suddenly become smaller for Mayweather than he ever imagined possible. Smaller and far more dangerous an address.

Mosley has done all he could in the weeks leading up to what is being widely hyped as the biggest fight in boxing in a decade to prepare De La Hoya for that moment. Not long after their second fight he became a partner in De La Hoya's promotional company and that move eventually led to his arrival in Puerto Rico a few weeks ago to aid his business partner in a new venture - the beat down of Floyd Mayweather, Jr.

It was an odd circumstance to be sure to find a world-class fighter agreeing to serve as a glorified sparring partner for someone he had twice fought himself, but Mosley did it to help a friend and because he believed he had much to offer. Mosley is a master imitator of other fighter's styles from Winky Wright to Felix Trinidad to, of all people, Floyd Mayweather, Jr. It is in the latter role that he worked with De La Hoya, not only imitating his opponent's style and preparing him for his quickness but also pointing out small but deadly little mistakes De La Hoya was making that a fighter as quick as Mayweather might capitalize on.

He mentioned one day that De La Hoya had to do more than double up his jab to avoid being countered by Mayweather and then made clear what he meant as the two of them sparred "like we weren't friends.''
He not only mimicked Mayweather's footwork and body lean but also talked about the need for De La Hoya's feet not to be squared off when he began to retreat because he would not be balanced enough to react quickly if Mayweather chose that moment to attack him. He noticed little things and reminded his friend of them. Little things that can result in a big victory if properly absorbed.

Yet the biggest thing was not so much the looks Mosley gave De La Hoya in sparring but rather the notion he came away with, which is that the stronger man on Saturday night will not be Floyd Mayweather, Jr. and in a fight like this it is not only speed that counts. It is speed and power.

"Oscar's really strong,'' Mosley said. "Even wearing those 16 ounce (training) gloves I could feel his power. When he puts on those 10 ounces Mayweather will be dealing with something he's never felt before. Oscar has good speed himself. He surprised me a little bit with that the first time we fought. And he can punch harder than anyone Floyd's faced.''

Mayweather has scoffed at this of course as he has at any hint of De La Hoya's size making a difference. Many questioned, for example, his willingness to agree to wearing Reyes gloves, which are known in the dark trade of boxing as "puncher's gloves'' because they have less padding in the front around the knuckles and more toward the rear. That not only makes for a more powerful punch but also puts at risk fragile hands like Mayweather's, which have been broken several times.
When such things are suggested to him, Mayweather dismisses them as he has all things about De La Hoya. Publicly he cannot conceive of the kind of edge Mosley is talking about. Then again, he hasn't been hit by Oscar De La Hoya.

"He won't hit me with that (left) hook,'' Mayweather said. "If he does, I'll say, 'That all you got?' He wanted Reyes gloves. I said, 'No problem.' He said fight at 154 pounds. I said 'No problem.' I gave him whatever he wanted to make this fight because all I do is rise to the occasion.

"Weight doesn't win a fight! Popularity doesn't win a fight! A name doesn't win fights! Skills win fights! Don't be surprised if I stop him. I'm going to dominate. Believe me, I'm going to dominate. I guarantee a win Saturday night. This dude, Shane Mosley, he's talking about fighting me too. I don't fight sparring partners.

"It's not really speed I beat guys with any way. I beat every fighter off smarts. If you make a mistake against me you pay. You can NEVER make a mistake with me and every fighter makes mistakes.''

If Floyd Mayweather, Jr is right and every fighter makes mistakes then at some point Saturday night it stands to reason that he will too. When he does, if Shane Mosley is right and Oscar De La Hoya is the stronger man in the ring at the Grand Garden Arena what happens then? That is a question Oscar De La Hoya intends to ask him. Not with his words but with a fist laced inside a 10 ounce glove. A puncher's glove.

by Ron Borges http://www.goldenboypromotions.com/m...2.07_shane.htm
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i think if the oscar that fought mayorga turns up then he will get beat and beat badly cos i thought he was getting hit a little too much for my liking and was heavy on his feet. i gotta say tho, they both looked extremly fit so it shows that this will be oscar and floyd at their best possible period.