Shane Mosley's career = Somewhat of a Disappointment

[match]

The guy's never been stopped (proving one of the best chin's in boxing history), stamped his legacy as arguably the greatest lightweight in history along side Roberto Duran, gave Oscar his first true loss when he was in his prime, and went after every fighter the boxing public wanted to see him in the ring with. The words 'Mosley' and 'Disappointment' do not belong in the same sentence.

Who did Mosley beat at lightweight to deserve recognition alongside the original Leonard, Duran, etc.?

His list of opponents does not equal Duran's (don't know why you said Leonard as he fought virtually his entire career at welterweight and above), but Mosely essentially never lost a single round as a lightweight and is universally considered as the only 135 lber who could have possibly beaten Duran.

[JazMerkin]

The guy's never been stopped (proving one of the best chin's in boxing history), stamped his legacy as arguably the greatest lightweight in history along side Roberto Duran, gave Oscar his first true loss when he was in his prime, and went after every fighter the boxing public wanted to see him in the ring with. The words 'Mosley' and 'Disappointment' do not belong in the same sentence.

Who did Mosley beat at lightweight to deserve recognition alongside the original Leonard, Duran, etc.?

His list of opponents does not equal Duran's (don't know why you said Leonard as he fought virtually his entire career at welterweight and above), but Mosely essentially never lost a single round as a lightweight and is universally considered as the only 135 lber who could have possibly beaten Duran.

Pernell Whitaker

In fact additionally there's Benny Leonard, Hank Armstrong, Ike Williams, Joe Gans, Alexis Arguello & Floyd Mayweather who I think were all capable of beating Duran at 135. Mosley was a hell of a LW, but he's not the best or 2nd best ever by any means

[jdonaher1]

Shanes 2 fights with ODLH were close. I seen both live. Shane clearly won the first fight 7-5 but I thought the 2nd fight was no better than a draw. True both rematches with Winky & Forrest were closer (probably both 7-5) but I never got the impression he was going to win those fights.

I think beating Margarito is a huge accomplishment. He was the best Welterweight in the world (I'm not counting Williams or Pretty Boy since neither was fighting at Welterweight at the time). Shane was 37 and Margarito had just destroyed Cotto. Revisionist history clouds the win now becasue of the hand wrap controversy.

[Taeth]

Shanes 2 fights with ODLH were close. I seen both live. Shane clearly won the first fight 7-5 but I thought the 2nd fight was no better than a draw. True both rematches with Winky & Forrest were closer (probably both 7-5) but I never got the impression he was going to win those fights.

I think beating Margarito is a huge accomplishment. He was the best Welterweight in the world (I'm not counting Williams or Pretty Boy since neither was fighting at Welterweight at the time). Shane was 37 and Margarito had just destroyed Cotto. Revisionist history clouds the win now becasue of the hand wrap controversy.

I didn't see the second Wright fihgt as being closer, I think Mosley threw more meaningless combinations, but IMO Wright was landing much more effectively in the second fight than he was in the first one.

[Spicoli]

Many a fighter would kill to have such a disappointing career.The only regrets Ive had with him is that while he was a blazing lightweight,he had a couple of fellow champs in Stevie Johnston & Gussie Nazarov that would have allowed him to put his stamp on the division.

And rematching Winky.I have never understood that one and honestly think they could have fought 10 times with similar results with that Winky Wright.Shane is a hall of famer and a great fighter who to this day remains at the top of his chosen division.I think he has always been very reserved,almost a lack of charisma outside of the ring.Very humble

[Violent Demise]

Many a fighter would kill to have such a disappointing career.The only regrets Ive had with him is that while he was a blazing lightweight,he had a couple of fellow champs in Stevie Johnston & Gussie Nazarov that would have allowed him to put his stamp on the division.

And rematching Winky.I have never understood that one and honestly think they could have fought 10 times with similar results with that Winky Wright.Shane is a hall of famer and a great fighter who to this day remains at the top of his chosen division.I think he has always been very reserved,almost a lack of charisma outside of the ring.Very humble

Johnson never wanted anything to do with Mosley

[Spicoli]

Many a fighter would kill to have such a disappointing career.The only regrets Ive had with him is that while he was a blazing lightweight,he had a couple of fellow champs in Stevie Johnston & Gussie Nazarov that would have allowed him to put his stamp on the division.

And rematching Winky.I have never understood that one and honestly think they could have fought 10 times with similar results with that Winky Wright.Shane is a hall of famer and a great fighter who to this day remains at the top of his chosen division.I think he has always been very reserved,almost a lack of charisma outside of the ring.Very humble

Johnson never wanted anything to do with Mosley

I don't know.I think he would of financially loved a piece of him after he regained his strap,and I think he believed he could beat him.It would have been a definite up hill struggle for Johnston but a fight that should have happened I believe.But he had all of the disadvantages but was smooth capable when he used his skills and not get sucked into,or unnecessarily trying to brawl one out.That loss to Bazan erased any thought of it. They had a history,huge network exposure but in hindsight I think Shane was looking to a mega clash with Oscar loooooong before that.

[Taeth]

I think people are focusing to much on what Mosley accomplished and aren't thinking about what he could ahve accomplished, sure he had an amazing career, but IMO if he had learned the right technical skills, Wright, Oscar the second time, Vernon Forrest, Miguel Cotto would have been no problem for him. He never learned how to effectively fight off the back foot or at range which is why IMO we saw such radical differences between his first and second fight with OScar where the range was always changing the second time. Taller guys(even if only a couple of inches) were able to keep Mosley totally at bay because he comes in predictably, but usually he is too overwhelming physically(like Manny Pacquiao) for the opponent to handle it, but Forest and Wright were able to stop Mosley from getting his offensive gears going and he couldn't adapt.

[Taeth]

The guy's never been stopped (proving one of the best chin's in boxing history), stamped his legacy as arguably the greatest lightweight in history along side Roberto Duran, gave Oscar his first true loss when he was in his prime, and went after every fighter the boxing public wanted to see him in the ring with. The words 'Mosley' and 'Disappointment' do not belong in the same sentence.

Who did Mosley beat at lightweight to deserve recognition alongside the original Leonard, Duran, etc.?

His list of opponents does not equal Duran's (don't know why you said Leonard as he fought virtually his entire career at welterweight and above), but Mosely essentially never lost a single round as a lightweight and is universally considered as the only 135 lber who could have possibly beaten Duran.

Your thinking of the wrong Leonard. IMO Floyd would have beaten Duran at lightweight more often than Mosley, same with Whitaker.