Shane Mosley: Any Mega Fights Out There? Pt. 2

In the sport of boxing more often than not there's more than just one winner and loser when a big fight ends. No doubt Manny Pacquiao comes out the biggest winner after his two round stoppage victory over Rick Hatton earlier this month, and Floyd Mayweather Jr. is the runner up. On the losing end Hatton is the obvious choice, then again I'm not so sure. Ricky, may have lost in a devastating fashion, but all indications are he's fine physically and is also $12-million dollars wealthier.

The fighter who when all is said and done that may be hurting the most and even moreso than Hatton – is Shane Mosley. He not only didn't make a monumental deposit like Hatton, the prospects of making one slipped a little further away. Mosley is in a real conundrum, that despite being four months out from his 38th birthday — he's either too good, too big or too small to participate in a future mega-fight.

Being too good eliminates potential opponents Floyd Mayweather Jr., Andre Berto and the winner of the upcoming Miguel Cotto-Joshua Clottey bout next month. In fairness to Mayweather his plate is pretty full with a scheduled bout against Juan Manuel Marquez in July — no doubt to be followed by a potential super fight with Manny Pacquiao in late November or early December of this year. Not to mention Floyd wants to wait for Mosley to get a little older along with him participating in a few more fights to add some mileage to his odometer, fully aware that a fight with Mosley will always be there to be made when he wants it. Andre Berto has garnered some recent attention, but why would he fight Mosley unless it's for big money – which it wouldn't be.

As far as the Cotto-Clottey winner, if it's Clottey it won't represent big money for Mosley. No doubt a main event on HBO championship boxing, but nothing more. A rematch with Cotto if he wins would seem like a natural, but then again maybe not. It would be reasonable to assume those managing Miguel Cotto are not looking to have their fighter fight a rematch with Mosley anytime soon. Cotto, came close to losing the first fight and after the beating he took from Antonio Margarito afterwards, at best maybe his body has healed but his psyche would be tested by Mosley in a big way if they fought again. There's no way anyone will know for sure where Cotto's at psychologically until he's hurt and under pressure again during a fight. On top of that under trainer Nazeem Richardson, Shane seems to be fighting smarter and has a ton of incentive to avenge a very closely contested fight. If I were Mosley I wouldn't count on getting Cotto in the ring again unless neither have any other viable options.

In the case of Mosley being too big – that eliminates just about every fighter campaigning below welterweight. If Ricky Hatton doesn't retire, the last fight his management would take coming off the knockout loss to Pacquiao is one with Mosley. If Marquez beats Mayweather, (which won't happen) he'd fight a third fight with Pacquiao. We already know where Mayweather is going after Marquez. That leaves Pacquiao if he gets by Mayweather. No doubt Mosley-Pacquiao would be intriguing, but only if Shane doesn't have to come in under 147 looking like a skeleton with eyes. And in fairness to Pacquiao, he is capable of weighing in at 147 pounds, but he's not a true welterweight. Perhaps undefeated junior welterweight Timothy Bradley who is sort of like a flavor of the month guy. Maybe if Bradley wanted to move up for a challenge, but that's not a money fight. Although it would keep Shane in the public eye and he'd look good stopping Bradley. I think in reality we can forget about a big fight for Mosley, at least for the next year with any big name fighter below welterweight.

The best chance for Mosley to land a high profile fight is for him to move up and take on a fighter who's most likely too big for him. I have no doubt Mosley wouldn't think twice about doing that, we know he's fearless almost to a fault. The problem is there's no real money for him to move up and lose a decision versus a fighter who can tie him in a knot and shut him down.

With James Kirkland out of boxing for the time being via some legal issues, forget about that. Vernon Forrest is coming off a big win in his last fight, but what's in it for Mosley? Not to mention Forrest is probably the last guy he'd want to see at this stage of his career. With Winky Wright losing a one-sided decision to Paul Williams in his last fight there's no reason or money to look in that direction for Mosley. Of course Williams is an option at a possible catch weight, but there's no way Mosley should take that fight. Sure – beating Williams would be huge on Mosley's part, but it would never happen.

Stylistically, Williams is all wrong for Shane. Unfortunately because of his confidence and courage, I could see Mosley fighting Williams as a last resort. The problem is he just doesn't have enough physically to best Paul. He couldn't better him from outside in an attempt to out-box him. If he pressures him, Williams will control every second of the fight. Remember, Mosley can't attempt to walk Williams down like Wright tried to do. Winky is physically bigger and stronger than Shane. Worse yet, Mosley will let his hands go in the process more than Wright attempted, which will leave him open to get nailed with Williams's shots up the middle and underneath.

Just as it's been throughout his career, Shane Mosley has been either too good for his own good, or too big or small for the mega-fights. He's a nightmare for fighters his size, and beating him doesn't bring the props and praise it should. For all that he's accomplished fighting between 135 and 154 he should've become a superstar. Which isn't really all that surprising that he didn't with the absence of a gimmick to accompany him. Today, too many fans and writers have no time for a fighter if he has more than a few losses, and that's ridiculous. Without a Olympic gold medal to attract corporate America, Shane has suffered in the world of public relations.

All he's done since his pro-debut is sought to fight the best of the best. Shane Mosley is a fighter in the purest form. As his Hall-Of-Fame career is winding down it's looking more and more like there's no mega-fight out there for him.