By Ant Evans: Former three-division world champion Shane Mosley re-debuts at 147lbs on April 23, when he takes on David Estrada at Cesar's Palace, Las Vegas. Sugar Shane returns to the welterweight division where he scored his career best win, decisively beating Oscar De La Hoya over 12 terrific rounds, in an attempt to stop the downward motion in his career.
Despite being one of boxing's most respecting fighting machines Mosley has posted just one win out of his last five bouts (one no contest) and that was the highly controversial repeat decision over De La Hoya in September 2003. He was beaten out of sight by in two matches with Vernon Forrest before that and last year's brace of emphatic points losses to Ronald 'Winky' Wright convinced the Californian to head south to 147lbs.
Currently weighing 150lbs, Mosley says he feels re-energised now he's returned to what many believe is his best weight class. "I feel a lot sharper and a lot faster in my workouts. My punches seem to come out a lot faster and a lot stronger now. I feel a lot sharper and a lot faster in my workouts. I want to make a big impression on the welterweight division. I have a fire in my belly and I haven't felt this way in a long time. I sit and watch some of my lightweight films and I have a hunger now because of the critics and haters that are out there. I really want to put a mark on the welterweight division."
Mosley is preparing for the Estrada fight in Big Bear under the tutelage of new trainer John David Jackson. The former WBA and WBO junior middleweight champion turned trainer replaces Joe Goossen, who helped Mosley to a vastly improved performance in the second 2004 fight with Wright.
"Shane and I are fast friend and had a great time together", Goossen told SecondsOut. "But he said he had commitments to train elsewhere and needed me to come to camp and I couldn't accommodate that. We both wanted to be together but I can't leave my gym at Van Nuys (California). I can't go train one guy - even Shane - on top of a mountain (Big Bear) for two months and abandon my own gym. I can't do that."
Goossen replaced Mosley's father, Jack, as the Sugarman's trainer and is widely credited with extracting one of Mosley's best performances in years last November v Wright. And Goossen believes that while a return to 147lbs will suit Shane just fine, Mosley could still have annexed another world title even if he had remained at 154lbs.
"Welterweight will suit Shane just fine. I like the idea of Shane going down to '47. He'll bring a real strong frame in at that weight against these guys and that will help him but I'd also say that he'd beat just about any 154lbs fighter out there not named Winky Wright. We were dealing with the trickiest, smartest southpaw on the planet and that's never fun. Had we gone in against any other 154lbs fighter we'd have won. And Shane never got stunned and hurt in that (second fight) - the only one who got stunned was Winky and he was the one who was banged up in that fight. And we used powder-puff Gant gloves, had we used Reyes gloves Winky would have got pounded worse."
Goossen pointed out that had his ex-change been awarded one more round the fight would have been a draw. Even though I believe that would have been a grave disservice to Wright - who I thought boxed his way close but clear win - there's no doubt Goossen presented a vastly improved Mosley that the one we'd got used to seeing since he was drilled by Forrest in January 2002.
But now it is up to Jackson to try and sweeten Mosley's style. Mosley thinks he's made another sound choice, saying: "John has proven to be a good trainer. He's a good coach and has a lot of knowledge. Things I got away from and making little mistakes like drawing back on my punches. Not going away, stand up straight, upright. We are doing a lot of things and he is a very smart coach. He is a two-time world champion."
Mosley v Estrada is one of four marquee bouts on ESPN's inaugural pay-per-view offering in conjunction with Main Events. Typical Mosley - he's not tip-toeing back into the welterweight waters but instead taking on a very credible foe. The Angelo Dundee trained Estrada, 18-1 (9), is coming off a breakout performance in knocking out previously unbeaten Chris Smith in 11 rounds.
Mosley summed up his opposition thus: "I have watched him on tapes and he's a consistent fighter. He's a little awkward at times. He has a style like Zack Padilla.I don't know if he seasoned enough yet but will find that out. When I agreed to the fight I knew that he fought Ishe Smith (l pts 10) and then he beat Chris Smith.
"At this time I feel that I am a top fighter and he is a tough fighter and he's going to come to fight. He'll be in tremendous shape watching his fights and I just know he will come with a lot of intensity. But moving down in weight brings my energy up and my intensity up. I will throw a lot more shots and they will be harder and crisper. Working with Armondo Velardez and Kenny Robinson. It is an overwhelming difference in my ability."
|
Subscribe to feed
