Former 3 division world champ “Sugar” Shane Mosley feels he can return to glory this Saturday at The Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA and reclaim the welterweight crown he last held in 2002. To do so he’ll have a stiff test in front of him as he’ll be challenging the current welterweight kingpin Antonio Margarito, who is notorious for being one of the most avoided fighters in boxing.
Despite Margarito’s reputation, Mosley is confident.
“My speed and movement will really give Margarito a lot of trouble and If I keep the jab working good, I stick to my game of being Sugar Shane Mosley (the boxer) not Sugar Shane Mosley the puncher, I should be alright in this fight “, says Mosley.
In Margarito’s most recent bout, he claimed the welterweight title with an 11th round TKO of the previously unbeaten Miguel Cotto. For much of the first 6 rounds of that fight, Margarito was being outboxed at ease by the much slicker Cotto. However, Margarito continuously pressed forward breaking down his opponent as the fight went on and eventually forced Cotto to drop to one knee twice in the 11th frame, prompting his corner to throw in the towel conceding the fight.
Throughout the first half of that fight, Margarito showed the ability to withstand an enormous amount of punishment without flinching, all the while moving forward gamely to eventually win the war of will power.
Still, Mosley feels that he can win via KO if the opportunity presents itself.
“I think I can knock him out”, he says without hesitation.
“I think that my punching power is very strong and people underestimate it.”
However, he’ll admit that trying to slug it out with the reigning titeholder is not the right gameplan.
“I won’t be looking to do that. I’ll be looking for more speed, more movement because that seems to work better with Margarito.”
While Margarito is coming off a career best win in his previous fight over Cotto, Mosley is coming off an ugly performance against former world champ Ricardo Mayorga in September. Mosley knocked Mayorga down twice in the final round of the fight eventually scoring the TKO with just one second to go.
Although Mosley was leading on 2 of the 3 official judges’ scorecards at the time of the stoppage, he struggled more than most thought he would have considering the superior speed and boxing skills he possessed over his opponent.
“He didn’t want to come in and fight”, Mosley says of Mayorga, “Then when he did decide to fight with me in the 12th round, I knocked him out”.
Though the Mayorga fight may have raised some questions from spectators about how much longer he could compete at the elite level, Sugar Shane still plans on fighting for another 4 or 5 years.
He’d welcome a rematch with Miguel Cotto, whom defeated him via a close unanimous decision in 2007, and says he can bounce between the welterweight and junior middleweight divisions successfully.
And with the welterweight title being at stake this weekend, he feels he knows who the best boxer at 147 pounds is.
“I believe I’m the best fighter”, he says.
Come Saturday, we’ll find out.
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