The legacy of Sugar Shane Mosely.

[ICB]

Having rewatched Mosely v Cotto AGAIN last night I saw Shane's hesitance to commit to another fight. Shane although in a pleasent mood as always seemed a little disconsolate and refused to definitively answer the question put to him bY HBO'S Max Kellerman.

This made me wonder. Should the Sugar man retire toady, what would your opinion of him be? What are your primary memories and are they fond memories or not?

For me he goes down in history as an ATG Lightweight. This may be a bit much for some people but I feel at 135 he was that good.
I'll always remeber his chin and heart, for a guy who was actually smaller than nearly all of his competition he never was fazed and apart from the Wright and Forrest fights I never saw him beaten decisively.

So.....Thoughts?

The fact that Mosley could fight even with a fighter like Cotto at his age speaks volumes how much of a great fighter Mosley is. Nice guy outside the ring and a hell of a fighter inside the ring. He had one of the quickest hands i've ever seen i would have loved to have seen Shane Mosley vs Meldrick Taylor can you imagine the speed of the combinations in that fight wow is all i can say. I also think Mosley has one of the best chins in modern day boxing, he was for certain one of the best Lightweights in history i even think he could of beat the legendary Roberto Duran at Lightweight.

[RozzySean]

Having rewatched Mosely v Cotto AGAIN last night I saw Shane's hesitance to commit to another fight. Shane although in a pleasent mood as always seemed a little disconsolate and refused to definitively answer the question put to him bY HBO'S Max Kellerman.

This made me wonder. Should the Sugar man retire toady, what would your opinion of him be? What are your primary memories and are they fond memories or not?

For me he goes down in history as an ATG Lightweight. This may be a bit much for some people but I feel at 135 he was that good.
I'll always remeber his chin and heart, for a guy who was actually smaller than nearly all of his competition he never was fazed and apart from the Wright and Forrest fights I never saw him beaten decisively.

So.....Thoughts?

The fact that Mosley could fight even with a fighter like Cotto at his age speaks volumes how much of a great fighter Mosley is. Nice guy outside the ring and a hell of a fighter inside the ring. He had one of the quickest hands i've ever seen i would have loved to have seen Shane Mosley vs Meldrick Taylor can you imagine the speed of the combinations in that fight wow is all i can say. I also think Mosley has one of the best chins in modern day boxing, he was for certain one of the best Lightweights in history i even think he could of beat the legendary Roberto Duran at Lightweight.

He's absolutely a top 3 ATG Lightweight and a top 20 WW. He was unstoppable at 135 and one of the tops of his generation for WW. I was talking about Shane with one of his cousins, and he told me the only guy who ever really had Shane hurt was Forrest. Shane vs Duran at 135 would be amazing.

[Galaxy]

Having rewatched Mosely v Cotto AGAIN last night I saw Shane's hesitance to commit to another fight. Shane although in a pleasent mood as always seemed a little disconsolate and refused to definitively answer the question put to him bY HBO'S Max Kellerman.

This made me wonder. Should the Sugar man retire toady, what would your opinion of him be? What are your primary memories and are they fond memories or not?

For me he goes down in history as an ATG Lightweight. This may be a bit much for some people but I feel at 135 he was that good.
I'll always remeber his chin and heart, for a guy who was actually smaller than nearly all of his competition he never was fazed and apart from the Wright and Forrest fights I never saw him beaten decisively.

So.....Thoughts?

The fact that Mosley could fight even with a fighter like Cotto at his age speaks volumes how much of a great fighter Mosley is. Nice guy outside the ring and a hell of a fighter inside the ring. He had one of the quickest hands i've ever seen i would have loved to have seen Shane Mosley vs Meldrick Taylor can you imagine the speed of the combinations in that fight wow is all i can say. I also think Mosley has one of the best chins in modern day boxing, he was for certain one of the best Lightweights in history i even think he could of beat the legendary Roberto Duran at Lightweight.

He's absolutely a top 3 ATG Lightweight and a top 20 WW. He was unstoppable at 135 and one of the tops of his generation for WW. I was talking about Shane with one of his cousins, and he told me the only guy who ever really had Shane hurt was Forrest. Shane vs Duran at 135 would be amazing.

Top 3? He struggles to make top 10 IMO

[DaxxKahn]

The fact that Mosley could fight even with a fighter like Cotto at his age speaks volumes how much of a great fighter Mosley is. Nice guy outside the ring and a hell of a fighter inside the ring. He had one of the quickest hands i've ever seen i would have loved to have seen Shane Mosley vs Meldrick Taylor can you imagine the speed of the combinations in that fight wow is all i can say. I also think Mosley has one of the best chins in modern day boxing, he was for certain one of the best Lightweights in history i even think he could of beat the legendary Roberto Duran at Lightweight.

He's absolutely a top 3 ATG Lightweight and a top 20 WW. He was unstoppable at 135 and one of the tops of his generation for WW. I was talking about Shane with one of his cousins, and he told me the only guy who ever really had Shane hurt was Forrest. Shane vs Duran at 135 would be amazing.

Top 3? He struggles to make top 10 IMO

I could argue 20 reasons he belongs among the top ...

Speed.....fastas any LW in history faster then most

Power..Hit hard....especially in combos

Chin...Never even wobbled at 135 he was slick, youu name it he had it....How many reasons can you name why he isn't worthy of top 10?

[Galaxy]

He's absolutely a top 3 ATG Lightweight and a top 20 WW. He was unstoppable at 135 and one of the tops of his generation for WW. I was talking about Shane with one of his cousins, and he told me the only guy who ever really had Shane hurt was Forrest. Shane vs Duran at 135 would be amazing.

Top 3? He struggles to make top 10 IMO

I could argue 20 reasons he belongs among the top ...

Speed.....fastas any LW in history faster then most

Power..Hit hard....especially in combos

Chin...Never even wobbled at 135 he was slick, youu name it he had it....How many reasons can you name why he isn't worthy of top 10?

Duran, Leonard, Whiitaker, Gans, Williams, Brown, Ortiz, Canzoneri, Montgomery, Jack, Ambers, Welsh... theres more than 10 reasons right there

[Spicoli]

Top 3? He struggles to make top 10 IMO

I could argue 20 reasons he belongs among the top ...

Speed.....fastas any LW in history faster then most

Power..Hit hard....especially in combos

Chin...Never even wobbled at 135 he was slick, youu name it he had it....How many reasons can you name why he isn't worthy of top 10?

Duran, Leonard, Whiitaker, Gans, Williams, Brown, Ortiz, Canzoneri, Montgomery, Jack, Ambers, Welsh... theres more than 10 reasons right there

Perspective and respect.What a wonderful Attribute.Oh Galaxy, you know that If we dont see them on DVD though .......They do not count Lol.Speaking at Lightweight, Very good and superb top notch talent but not an all time great Imo.

[Andre]

I've enjoyed everything he has brought to the table for all of us, I cant belive there are detractors of the mans efforts in here.

[RozzySean]

The fact that Mosley could fight even with a fighter like Cotto at his age speaks volumes how much of a great fighter Mosley is. Nice guy outside the ring and a hell of a fighter inside the ring. He had one of the quickest hands i've ever seen i would have loved to have seen Shane Mosley vs Meldrick Taylor can you imagine the speed of the combinations in that fight wow is all i can say. I also think Mosley has one of the best chins in modern day boxing, he was for certain one of the best Lightweights in history i even think he could of beat the legendary Roberto Duran at Lightweight.

He's absolutely a top 3 ATG Lightweight and a top 20 WW. He was unstoppable at 135 and one of the tops of his generation for WW. I was talking about Shane with one of his cousins, and he told me the only guy who ever really had Shane hurt was Forrest. Shane vs Duran at 135 would be amazing.

Top 3? He struggles to make top 10 IMO

He struggles to make your your top 10 in at 135? That's pretty surprising. I can't imagine anybody not including him in a list of top 10 lightweights. Do you remember young, prime, lightweight Sugar Shane?

[ICB]

Although i agree Seanie i can still understand Galaxy's point. There has been many great Lightweights and i just done this top 10 list off the top of my head not in order of some of the greatest Lightweights of all time. And i could have easily left Mosley off this list and replaced him with Esteban De Jesus or etc.

Benny Leonard
Roberto Duran
Joe Gans
Shane Mosley
Tony Canzoneri
Carlos Ortiz
Pernell Whitaker
Ike Williams
Joe Brown
Jimmy Carter

[Galaxy]

He's absolutely a top 3 ATG Lightweight and a top 20 WW. He was unstoppable at 135 and one of the tops of his generation for WW. I was talking about Shane with one of his cousins, and he told me the only guy who ever really had Shane hurt was Forrest. Shane vs Duran at 135 would be amazing.

Top 3? He struggles to make top 10 IMO

He struggles to make your your top 10 in at 135? That's pretty surprising. I can't imagine anybody not including him in a list of top 10 lightweights. Do you remember young, prime, lightweight Sugar Shane?

Yes I remember & in regards to ability Shane may belong alongside Duran, Leonard or Whitaker. But his record at 135 is good not legendary & not enough to get rated with them. He never went after Johnston to unify the title although I'm sure he would have been the favorite. His challenges weren't that impressive... Leija & Molina weren't prime when Mosley fought them. Overall IMO the guys I listed in a previous post had greater credentials at 135 than Mosley.

[Spicoli]

Mosley was a phenom and tremendous talent but I think he was part of the huge rush to not really clean out or unify a division but rather to get to the big name fights.......Oscar.It happens more and more.He might of very well whipped over Amatuer rival Johnston (?) & might have Been way to fast for Nazarov (Naz had a chance with the power,too bad for wanting to much money) but we will never know.

[donnydarkoIRL]

while Mosley was an EXCELLENT lightweight he just doesnt have enough good names on his record to be considered an all time great at the weight. and at welter his record was patchy at best,2 losses to Forrest ,a close win over the transves....i mean De La Hoya, a KO of Adrian stone, a loss to Cotto(clear im my opinion) .....i mean its hardly great.
but i always liked Shane,he was a brave guy with a real fighters attitude but what do you think of his drug use nobody mentioned it yet.
i for one think it should count against him.a cheat is a cheat whether we like it or not .

Shane never tested positive, nor was he ever accused of steroid use.

The only issue was his links to the BALCO organistaion and the use of HGH was mentioned.

[RozzySean]

Top 3? He struggles to make top 10 IMO

He struggles to make your your top 10 in at 135? That's pretty surprising. I can't imagine anybody not including him in a list of top 10 lightweights. Do you remember young, prime, lightweight Sugar Shane?

Yes I remember & in regards to ability Shane may belong alongside Duran, Leonard or Whitaker. But his record at 135 is good not legendary & not enough to get rated with them. He never went after Johnston to unify the title although I'm sure he would have been the favorite. His challenges weren't that impressive... Leija & Molina weren't prime when Mosley fought them. Overall IMO the guys I listed in a previous post had greater credentials at 135 than Mosley.

Why do you list Leonard when he never fought at 135? Why would he fight Johnson when he could move up and challenge ODLH for big money? Shane would have destroyed Stevie Johnson. There was no need to urgency to unify the belts because everybody knew Shane was clearly tops at 135 and the public was far more interested in Shane moving up in weight than fight in weak LW division. Not for nothing, but Duran's (who is one of my favorite fighters) fought lots of crap at 135. De Jesus and Buchanan were probably his two best opponents at 135. His crowning moment was beating Sugar Ray, and that came at WW.

[Galaxy]

He struggles to make your your top 10 in at 135? That's pretty surprising. I can't imagine anybody not including him in a list of top 10 lightweights. Do you remember young, prime, lightweight Sugar Shane?

Yes I remember & in regards to ability Shane may belong alongside Duran, Leonard or Whitaker. But his record at 135 is good not legendary & not enough to get rated with them. He never went after Johnston to unify the title although I'm sure he would have been the favorite. His challenges weren't that impressive... Leija & Molina weren't prime when Mosley fought them. Overall IMO the guys I listed in a previous post had greater credentials at 135 than Mosley.

Why do you list Leonard when he never fought at 135? Why would he fight Johnson when he could move up and challenge ODLH for big money? Shane would have destroyed Stevie Johnson. There was no need to urgency to unify the belts because everybody knew Shane was clearly tops at 135 and the public was far more interested in Shane moving up in weight than fight in weak LW division. Not for nothing, but Duran's (who is one of my favorite fighters) fought lots of crap at 135. De Jesus and Buchanan were probably his two best opponents at 135. His crowning moment was beating Sugar Ray, and that came at WW.

Benny Leonard not Ray Leonard!

Becoming undisputed champion means more than just holding a belt. Duran, Leonard, Whitaker, Gans, Williams, Brown, Ortiz, Canzoneri, Ambers & Welsh were all world champions at 135, Shane was just a belt holder!!! How does interest in fighting Oscar effect Shane's all time ranking at 135? It doesn't! Becoming World champion would have helped.

Duran had 12 title defenses, 11 by KO & reigned for 6 years. Duran could do it all in the ring. He could make guys miss then he'd kill their body. He could cut of the ring on some of the best movers, he could switch between southpaw & orthodox seamlessly. Duran was born to fight!!!