Shane Mosley boasts an incredible resume of opponents including Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather, Oscar De La Hoya, Vernon Forrest and Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez.
One of the few men to knock him down was Pacquiao, who dropped Mosley in the third round with a one-two on his way to a wide unanimous decision victory.
In his next fight at age 40, Mosley faced 21-year-old rising star Canelo. Again he would make it the distance, but was thoroughly outgunned by the Mexican, who landed his best shots throughout. Mosley stayed on his feet.
In an interview with ES News, the Hall of Famer identified that third round left from ‘PacMan’ as one of the toughest shots he took.
“It was the way he threw the punch and how it felt. It didn’t feel hard, it felt like a snapping punch. When I went down it seemed like it could’ve been a flash knockdown, but when I got up I felt the effects, feeling a little dizzy. I thought wow that’s interesting that this little guy hits me with a left hand that I seen coming and I go down. I’ve been in with heavyweights, light-heavyweights, anybody, you see when I fought Canelo after that fight. Canelo hit me with everything in the book he could and I’m still walking him down, still going forward. And Pacquiao hits me with a little straight left hand and I felt a little weak.”
Mosley said that the effects may have been heightened due to carrying an Achilles injury into the fight, but was adamant that he had felt nothing like the Filipino’s ‘freaky power’ in his career.
“It was a different type of punch. There’s no way I’m gonna be dizzy on a little left hand, so Pacquiao has some freaky type of power that I haven’t seen in all my fights.”
Mosley would fight on five more occasions, winning three, before hanging up the gloves in 2016. Pacquiao, despite last being in the ring in 2021, never seems far from announcing a comeback.
