Sugar Shane Mosley & Anthony Mundine In L.A.

LOS ANGELES-Deep in the heart of the downtown area, where refurbishing is taking place daily, hometown hero Sugar Shane Mosley and Australia’s Anthony Mundine met Friday afternoon to let the world know about their pending clash.

Mosley, the former lightweight, welterweight and junior middleweight world champion meets Mundine, the former super middleweight, middleweight and now interim junior middleweight world champion on Oct. 23. The junior middleweight match will be held in Sydney, Australia and promoted by Millenium Promotions, in association with Golden Boy Promotions.

“I’m more comfortable at welterweight, but I can do junior middleweight,” said Mosley, 41, inside the L.A Brewing Company located on Broadway. “He’s a little bigger than me, but you know me, I can fight bigger guys.”

Mundine, a former rugby great in Australia, is now considered by many one of that country’s greatest prizefighters. That’s not enough for his liking.

“I feel I’m the best athlete ever,” the 38-year-old Mundine said, adding that includes American athletes of yesteryear too. “Bo Jackson only played team sports. I was in a team sport but then I went into the most difficult and dangerous sport of all, boxing.”

It’s been a long-time goal of Mundine to enter the American market where big money and worldwide recognition go together. He knew he needed someone of Hall of Fame caliber like Mosley to place him into the American consciousness.

“A win over Mosley will open up a lot of doors,” Mundine says.

Mosley recently took apart Mexico’s Pablo Cano this past May to prove that he’s far from over in the welterweight world. Can he beat a Devon Alexander or an Adrien Broner?

But this fight takes place at the junior middleweight level and Mosley has Golden Boy’s backing for this fight.

“Shane has always fought the best,” said Raul Jaimes, of Golden Boy Promotions. “He put on an amazing performance against Pablo Cano.”

Now Mosley gets Mundine. Both fighters are fighting for that doorway to bigger fights.

“I’d like to fight Canelo,” said Mundine, who defeated Rigoberto Alvarez two years ago. “But I can’t think about that. I’m focusing on Shane.”