30/08/2015
- Sugar Shane Mosley (47-9-1, 39KOs) makes his comeback to the ring against his old foe Ricardo Mayorga (31-8-1, 25KOs) this Saturday night. Mosley stopped Mayorga in the 12th round of their first bout in 2008 and I expect him to do the same again.
- This will be Mosley's first bout in almost two years, this two year hiatus from the ring was well needed. The time he has taken off has allowed him to rest his mind and his body, which was desperately needed before he became a complete joke of a boxer. Mosley claims to be injury free again and by the look of his sparring videos with Shawn Porter (a top and prime welterweight) he may well be telling the truth.
- In his two years off, Mosley has still stayed in good shape. He appears to have taken care of his body, which certainly cannot be said about Mayorga. Mayorga is a chain smoker and looked as if he has been enjoying life a little too much in his retirement. Mayorga had stamina problems in his prime and these problems will only have gotten far worse.
- Mayorga,on paper, has been more active than Mosley but really that is false. He has had two bouts since he was stopped by Cotto in 2011, one was against a fighter with a 9-23 record and the other was against an obscure Mexican with a terrible record, so really Mayorga hasn't had a competitive bout in almost four and a half years.
- In Mayorga's last two bouts he weighed in at 172 and 173 pounds. This bout will be at around 154-157, so I reckon Mayorga will have had to cut at least 35 pounds in his training camp.
- Cutting 35 pounds at his age and with his smoking would have been a massive strain on his body, the energy he will have exerted in making weight, I believe, will leave him with very little chance of going the full twelve rounds, regardless of what kind of Mosley shows up.
- Mosley is two years older than Mayorga but for the vast majority of his career he was a boxer who didn't take severe punishment. Mayorga has always been a brawler and he has been through many wars, which have definitely taken there toll on his body.
- Only one of Mayorga's last seven bouts have gone the distance, since 2004 only two have gone the distance.
- Mosley has shown he has an excellent chin throughout his career. He went the distance with Canelo, Pacquiao and De La Hoya. He only has one stoppage loss and that came against Anthony Mundine. Mosley was unable to continue due to back pains, so it was nothing to do with his chin. Mayorga will probably come out swinging early and I expect him to gas out pretty quickly.
- Mosley has 39 KOs in his 47 wins, thats an 83% KO record when he has won.
- Now many people will look and say Mosley has no stoppage wins in his last 6 bouts, which is a fair point but more should be read into it. In these six bouts he fought Mayweather, Pacquiao and Canelo (all world class). He outpointed a tough Mexican in Cesar Cano, who only had one stoppage at the time which came against future Hall of Famer Erik Morales, he drew with the highly durable Sergio Mora and finally he was retired in the seventh against Mundine. It's clear from this list that Mosley shouldn't have been expected to stop any of these guys. A prime Mosley would have done well stopping the majority of these opponents.
- Motivation is key in this bout. While both men need the money, I think Mosley still has big ambitions in the ring, unlike Mayorga who is using this bout as a pay day and nothing else. I think this bout has been arranged to relaunch Mosley and a win here should give him a good ranking and move him closer to a potential title shot.