Sugar Shane Mosley Begins The Beguine

WEST HOLLYWOOD-Sugar Shane Mosley arrived slightly late to the media day planned for him in West Hollywood. L.A. traffic, an afternoon Dodger game and taking his son to register for an upcoming amateur tournament kept him from meeting the scheduled time slot on Wednesday.

Can he shake off the rust that showed in his last fight?

Mosley, 38, is fighting the man who beat the man who beat him twice on Saturday Sept. 18, at the Staples Center. East L.A.?s Sergio ?The Latin Snake? Mora (22-1-1, 6 KOs) is itching to prove lightning can strike twice when they meet in two weeks.

Mosley moseyed on down to Justine Fortune?s gym where several dozen reporters cramped inside to speak to the Pomona prizefighter who recently lost last spring to Floyd Mayweather. The one-sidedness of the Las Vegas fighter?s win shocked many even the Sugar man.

?I just want to fight,? said Mosley (46-6, 39 KOs) who heard over and over again ?what happened??

?I?m not going into that,? replied Mosley who turns 39 next Tuesday.

The second most popular question is why fight Mora who has nothing to lose?

?I?m not buying into that,? said Mosley about Mora being an underdog who is out of his league. ?I know he thinks he can beat me.?

In the back of Mosley?s mind is the fact that Mora was able to hand the late great Vernon Forrest one of three losses in that fighter?s career. Mosley was 0 for 2 against ?the Viper? and finally realized it was a style match up that never suited his own.

So where does Mora?s style fit in?

Mosley realizes that Mora cannot be pinned down as an A or B style fighter and poses numerous problems defensively and size-wise. But it also is a risk needed to partake to prove his fighting tools are world class.

It?s truly a fight of enormous importance to Mosley who made his grand entrance to the elite level of boxing at the same venue 10 years ago. On that night he fought another East L.A. prizefighter in Oscar De La Hoya and walked away with a split decision win. Can he remain unbeaten in Staples Center?

It?s going to be a tough and grueling task facing a bigger man who has fought primarily in the middleweight division but is dropping down to junior middleweight for this fight.

Mosley is facing his own future in two weeks.