Shane Mosley has named the hardest puncher that he crossed paths with in 61 fights.
‘Sugar Shane’ enjoyed an accomplished professional career, which saw him win world titles across three weight classes between the years of 1993 and 2016.
The bulk of Mosley’s success came during the late 1990s and early 2000s, where he defeated the likes of Oscar De La Hoya, Jesse James Leija and Fernando Vargas to name a few.
He did suffer his fair share of defeats however, falling short against Ronald ‘Winky’ Wright, Floyd Mayweather and Miguel Cotto before his career eventually came to an end after he was beaten by David Avanesyan 9 years ago.
After facing an abundance of heavy-hitters during his tenure, including Mexican icon Canelo Alvarez and eight-division champion Manny Pacquiao, Mosley once revealed to the Ring Magazine that Vernon Forrest was the biggest puncher he ever locked horns with.
“I’m not sure why; maybe it was just natural. He just hit the hardest.”
‘Sugar Shane’ suffered back-to-back defeats to Forrest between January and July 2002, surrendering his WBC world welterweight title in their first encounter before he was beaten by ‘The Viper’ once again in their rematch six months later.
Forrest would go on to suffer two consecutive defeats himself after he handed Mosley his first career losses, as he was stopped by Ricardo Mayorga in the 3rd round of their showdown in January 2003.
Forrest fell short to Mayorga in their second encounter five months later, although he would go on to capture world honours once again four years later when he beat Carlos Baldomir to become the WBC world super-welterweight champion. he retired in 2008 with a record of 41 wins, 29 by knockout, and just three losses.
