FORMER pound-for-pound star “Sugar” Shane Mosley is now two wins into his latest comeback. The former lightweight, welterweight and light-middleweight ruler halted Venezuelan southpaw Patrick Lopez in the 10th round at The Roberto Duran Arena in Panama City on Thursday (December 17).
Mosley, aged 44 and light years past his incredible prime, still possesses punching power and he dropped Lopez three times in the fight – once in the 2nd round and twice in the 10th to get the TKO at 2 minutes of the round. Now 49-9-1(41) and boxing as a welterweight (for the win over Lopez, Mosley scaled a fraction above 148-pounds), Mosley won for the second time since he returned to action this past August, when he halted Ricardo Mayorga in a curiosity rematch of a dramatic 2008 encounter.
Mosley did suffer a cut in the fight, when an accidental head-butt in the 2nd round left him with a cut above his right eye.
Lopez, who is no spring chicken at age 37, gave it a go but he was outgunned and outworked by Mosley. Lopez – who had previously been beaten by Fernando Angulo, Josesito Lopez, Tim Coleman, Henry Lundy and Karim Mayfield in his other notable steps up in class – is now 23-6(14).
Mosley insists he is far from finished and says he will continue boxing for the foreseeable future. Still harbouring ideas of getting return matches with superstars Manny Pacquiao, Miguel Cotto and the “retired” Floyd Mayweather Junior, Mosley seems to be hoping for the impossible. But Mosley insists he is not fighting for money, only for glory. The former king and certain Hall of Famer of the future is not at all interested in what his critics have to say.
“Why are the people whose biggest accomplishment is writing (about what I do) the first to hate on what I do? Go accomplish something,” Mosley wrote on his Twitter account earlier today.
It seems constructive criticism is often referred to as hate these days, especially by fighters. Nobody is hating on Mosley or his desire to hold onto his youth. The critics of his comeback simply have a tough time watching him fight at age 44 when they were blown away and mesmerised by the sheer talent he had back in the years 1993 to 2010.
