Boxing News: Shane Mosley Meets the Press

Sugar Shane Mosley took time off from the training facility in Big Bear, Calif., for his rematch with Fernando Vargas to speak with the boxing press via telephone conference call from Pasadena. This is what went down…

SHANE MOSLEY:  I have been training in Big Bear.  The training has been going very well and the sparring has been going very well.  My father has been very good in camp.  I am excited and ready to go to battle.

Fernando said you really did not want this fight.

SHANE MOSLEY:  I really did want this fight because to me it was a great fight.  The first time I figured you out and the second time is going to be a breeze.  I think it is easy money for me.

RICHARD SCHAEFER:  Shane could have gone and fought Hatton or Mayweather or Gatti before the Gatti-Baldomir fight was made so there was no reason for Shane to take the fight.  He did it really to give Fernando the opportunity for a rematch because he was crying out to the whole world that Oscar and Trinidad did not give him a rematch and that he would have been able to do all of these kinds of things to them in a rematch.  So Shane said basically, let’s see what he can do.

Fernando also said the swelling came from head butts.  Which was it?

SHANE MOSLEY:  I believe your opinion is true.  All night, and obviously you can see from the tape, that it was from right hands.  That’s what I see and there is no sense going back and forth about it with the head butts.  Just look for yourself and you can see what it was.

Does it bother you that he says that?

SHANE MOSLEY:  Actually, it gives me more confidence because I know that a lot of his team gives him a lot of false hope and false pride about how well he did and not tell him the truth.  I would be a little concerned if he thought it was from the right hands and how he was going to counter off the right hands and knock him out, then I would be a little worried.  If people are telling him it was from head butts, then the right hand is going to be open again.

RICHARD SCHAEFER:  It is typical Vargas.  He talks a lot.  Last time Mosley shut Vargas’ eye – this time he’s going to shut his mouth.  I don’t think there is much more to it.  This is a typical pattern with Vargas – he probably thinks he won the fight against Oscar, too and against Trinidad.  It is a disrespect that Vargas has for his opponents.  Rather than saying, “I appreciate that you stood up and took the fight,” he’s trying to downplay his performance as he did with Oscar and Trinidad.  There are no excuses.  This is his chance to show the world what he can do.  His legacy is on the line.  If he loses this fight as well, what was he really?  I guy that sold a lot of tickets.

What happened to get you two back together?

SHANE MOSLEY:  He was very excited to come back and work with me.  He saw things I could improve on, and get me back to square one.  Where I was at just like the old days.  I saw the fire and hunger in his eyes that he really wanted to make an impact upon me and upon the world when I go out there and do the things I do.  We talked about it and he knew the job and he knew what he had to do and what he was supposed to do and he did it.  He rose to the occasion and we are ready to fight.

Did you have to tell your dad things were going to be different this time?

SHANE MOSLEY:  We talked about it a little bit but I knew the first day in training that it was going to be just like the old times, a tough, hard type of training camp.

Do you think Fernando will do anything different in the fight?

SHANE MOSLEY:  According to Danny Smith he is not going to do anything differently.  I don’t know if he can try to box me or not.  I don’t see any difference.  It is hard to change a fighter in two or three months so I think he is going to come out and pretty much do the same thing.

Do you think a decision or a knockout?

SHANE MOSLEY:  It will most likely end in a stoppage.  I don’t know if it will be a knockout but it will probably be stopped again.

What was it like on the first day of training camp?

SHANE MOSLEY:  It was fine.  It wasn’t like we didn’t see each other for a long time and came back and started training.  I’ve been coming around the house and drop my kids off and we would sit and talk about little things here and there.  So it wasn’t like it was a big change or difference or silence about what was going to happen.  We went right to work and started training.  We already knew what to do and what to work on so we started from there and kept going.

Do you think Oscar should retire?

SHANE MOSLEY:  I think it is whatever Oscar chooses to do.  If he has the hunger and desire to fight Floyd, so be it.  It is something he has to decide.  He would be fighting Floyd for pure entertainment and pure excitement.

Is you wife your manager?

SHANE MOSLEY:  She does a lot of the managerial duties.  Legally, she is not the manager.

Did you speak to her about bringing you dad back on board?

SHANE MOSLEY:  We did talk together a little bit about that.  She thought it would be a great idea, if my father is motivated to come back then he would be the best choice.  Nobody else could train me like my father could.

Can you tell us how you looked so good in your last fight?

SHANE MOSLEY:  John did some things there; you know my father used to train John as well.  We kind of got back to some of the things that me and my father used to do – the bags and a lot of the movement and stuff.  We got back to that and I looked great.  I felt great and I did what I had to do.

You said you are moving back to 147, is that the plan?

SHANE MOSLEY:  I definitely want to move down and be considered pound-for-pound the best.  As far s the writers, I feel in my heart that I am already the best down there.  I have to show it and prove it to the world and the people around and that’s what I will do.

Do you think Floyd will be interested?

SHANE MOSLEY:  Yes, I am pretty sure he will definitely be interested. We are going to take some time to get to 147.  I am going to be coming off of two fights with basically a 160-pounder.  So we are going to relax and go from there.  But definitely be the next fight for me will be at welterweight.

Will you next fight be in 2007?

SHANE MOSLEY:  Most likely.

Vargas has called out all of his past losses – are you saying be careful for what you ask for – you may get it?

SHANE MOSLEY:  Definitely.  All things Richard said are 100% true.  I agree and I couldn’t have said it any better – right off my lips.  I am in great shape.  I think he is delusional about what is going on and it seems like his corner and everyone else is delusional with him.  I think that is a bad trait for him entering this next fight.

Do you feel this is unfinished business at 154?

SHANE MOSLEY:  This is one more notch in my belt to close the book on this chapter of me and Fernando Vargas.  I don’t think I want to fight at 154.  I think 147 would be my weight but you never know what the future may hold and that is what is so great about boxing – it is unpredictable.

There is talk about you and Mayweather in November.

SHANE MOSLEY:  They can stop waiting on that because that is not going to happen.  They can stop thinking about that because it won’t happen.  They can come to this fight and check it out but that won’t happen in November.  It will probably happen some time next year.  I am not going to have a fight after this until next year.  I won’t fight again until 2007.

So you are saying go find another fight?

SHANE MOSLEY:  Bascially.  Go fight Margarito.  Go fight Margarito – then we can fight the winner.

Does the stuff Fernando is saying upset you?

SHANE MOSLEY:  You never want to get yourself agitated and all worked up.  It doesn’t piss me off – it just shows me where his mind is and what he is thinking.  It is not a good thing to go into a fight thinking you are the better fighter when you are really not.  If he feels he doesn’t have to work on anything or try anything or adapt to anything or make adjustments, then he is being misled and his corner, the people in his corner are not qualified.  So he is in some deep stuff.

Do you think Fernando is as good as he was?

SHANE MOSLEY:  If he prepared himself properly, then he could get himself up and be a great fighter.  But like I said, they are giving him false hope and false pride by telling him he was the winner in the last fight, then if they can’t get square 1 right, then how can they get to square two and be able to improve on that.  A strength coach is not a boxing coach.  He doesn’t know how to train a person in boxing.  He can be strong, anybody can be strong, I’m very strong, basically.  But mentally, how can you adapt – not by having just brute strength – you have to be able to move a certain way and angle your feet a certain way and let the punches fly a certain way to better yourself in a fight.  And that has to be with a boxing coach – not the weight training coach.  He is not going to be able to change the factor of the fight.

Have you changed your style of fighting over the years?

SHANE MOSLEY:  Bringing my father back in the picture there will be a lot of things I did back in the day.  A lot of power boxing, if you will, type of workout.  I have no reason not to do it, because that is all I know right now.

How hard was it to move away from your father?

SHANE MOSLEY:  As an amateur, I traveled around the world with different trainers and I’ve used everybody’s trainers fighting in different countries, so it really wasn’t foreign to me.  I had done it a lot.  So it wasn’t that difficult and the people I had in my corner knew me for a long time.  Joe Goossen had known me since I was 12 and was always trying to get his fighters to beat me.  He had to study me anyway so he knew about me.  John David Jackson was my sparring partner for the first Oscar De La Hoya fight an he helped me a lot in sparring with different angles to work on.  SO they all knew me.  Everybody knew my style and what to expect.

How did it affect your relationship outside the ring?

SHANE MOSLEY:  It didn’t affect it.  I still dropped my kids off at the house and they called him Grandpa and Granddaddy, so we were still family.  He still came to every fight even though he wasn’t in the corner, cheering me on.

Do you plan on having him train you in the future?

SHANE MOSLEY:  I think it is going to be from her on in.  You never know what the future hold but I think from here on out he’ll be in the corner.

Do you think we’ll ever see Shane in the ring at 40?

SHANE MOSLEY:  You never know.  I love the sport.  I don’t really think I will be there at 40.  Maybe just under 40.  There are so many up and coming young fighters that I can help nourish to become world champions.  Then I have a family of my own.  SO it is so hard to keep it going and be in the boxing world.

The Mosley vs. Vargas II pay-per-view telecast, beginning at 9 p.m. EST/6 p.m. PST on July 15, has a suggested retail price of $49.95, will be distributed by HBO Pay-Per-View and will be available to more than 56 million pay-per-view homes. The telecast will be available in HD-TV for those viewers who can receive HD. HBO Pay-Per-View is the leading supplier of event programming to the pay-per-view industry. For your daily Mosley vs. Vargas II fight week updates, log onto www.HBO.com.