Severe Ramifications.

It wasn't just Ricardo Mayorga that lost when he was out-boxed by Cory Spinks this past weekend in Atlantic City, New Jersey on Don King's marathon championship card.

Along with Mayorga, Shane Mosley was also a big loser as he was slated to face the wild Nicaraguan on March 13th on a big pay-per-view show. 'El Matador' lost two belts, Mosley lost a big fight and maybe some leverage in negotiations for a third bout with Oscar De La Hoya.

Now, not only is Shane without a fight on the immediate horizon, it could hinder him in negotiating a third bout. It was thought that a win over Mayorga could be used as a bargaining chip for Mosley and his camp. As for De La Hoya, he'll always have lucrative fights at his disposal.

” With De La Hoya, it doesn't effect him at all but with Mosley, he was looking to fight Mayorga, which was the biggest fight out there for him,” said Bob Arum, who represents 'the Golden Boy'.” And now, I don't know who he fights for an impact fight.”

And Arum says that even if Mosley would have faced Mayorga and looked impressive, it may not have helped his cause financially.

” If he had fought Mayorga and had done incredible( pay-per-view) numbers, then it might have effected it or if it had done lousy numbers, that would have effected it,” explained Arum, who makes it clear, the bottom line for any fighters market value has nothing to do with the quality of their performances.” This is a business, this is a lot of non-sense about,' He looked great and therefore he's enhanced his value' That's not the case.”

And while Team Mosley plots out another course of action, Oscar's only real decision is who, what, when and where he fights. But you know he'll be in a big fight against someone, somewhere. It's 'the Golden Rule' of boxing. The real question is when we'll see him again.

” We don't know yet,” answered Arum, when asked of De La Hoya's return to the ring, which many people have speculated will not be till November of 2004.” He's due back in right before Christmas and we'll be talking to him and we'll ascertain then exactly what his plans are. So I can't really fairly answer that question, where he will or he wont, because that's when it's scheduled to be discussed.”

And with Oscar a multitude of options will always be available, from a Fernando Vargas, to a Bernard Hopkins, Winky Wright or even a Felix Trinidad( hey, you never know, rumors are beginning to come out), Oscar can pick and choose. Shane, simply doesn't have that luxury.

He needed a Mayorga victory about as badly as Mayorga did. With such a big fight at stake, why did Don King risk this payday for his fighter and himself by putting the raw Mayorga in with the tricky Spinks? Yeah, sure Mayorga beat Vernon Forrest twice, but Spinks is a dreaded, slick, stinky, southpaw that can make the most technically sound boxers look like rank amateurs. Remember, styles make fights, and this style was all wrong for Mayorga.

Spinks' father was the mercurial 'Neon' Leon and his uncle Michael was one of the all-time greats at light heavyweight. While Michael was nicknamed 'the Spinks Jinx' for his power, his nephew should be dubbed 'the Spinks Stynx' because that's exactly what he can do- stink out the joint if he pleases.

Sources say that King's veteran matchmaker Bobby Goodman was squarely against this match-up. Hell, Ray Charles could have seen that Mayorga was going to have difficulty with Spinks. Eventually, he would lose a majority decision to the native of St. Louis, who believe it or not, is now the undisputed welterweight champion of the world.

But back to Mosley, so what exactly is his next move?

Do they face the crafty Spinks? Doubt it, I don't think Mosley himself is in any mood to face a left-hander at this point.

How 'bout Vernon Forrest? Sorry like the Police Academy movies, we have a feeling that this series will get worse as they go on.

Winky Wright? Well, he turned down a million bucks to face Mosley a few years ago, will this fight be any easier to make now?

Then what about Fernando Vargas? Sorry, but it's clear that Main Events is positioning themselves for their own rematch with De La Hoya down the line.

Antonio Margarito? Not a bad choice, but Arum has plans to match him with Floyd Mayweather in 2004 and he is still a bit of an unknown commodity to boxing fans.

Bernard Hopkins, then? Sorry, but it says here that 'the Executioner', who butchered William Joppy this past weekend, is simply too big and strong for Mosley. Also, financially he may not bring in the type of dollars that justifies the risk they would be taking in facing the undisputed middleweight champion of the world.

Even though he hasn't fought yet, it seems that Mosley has already suffered his first loss of 2004.