On April 23, “Sugar” Shane Mosley will be fighting David Estrada on the undercard of an ESPN PPV televised Main Events-promoted event.
Who the heck is David Estrada, and why are fans being subjected to another tomato-can for Shane Mosley?
Just a few years ago, right after his first victory over Oscar de la Hoya, Sugar Shane Mosley was being heralded as the best fighter pound-per-pound. This was ridiculous … not because Shane Mosley isn’t talented, but rather because beating a great fighter doesn’t make him a great fighter.
The first time I saw Mosley fight I was impressed with his lighting fast power punches … he reminded me of a 135 pound version of Roy Jones. I thought to myself, this guy undoubtedly would be a champion. Perhaps even a great champion worthy of the name “Sugar.”
But, as Mosley’s career unfolded, I realized that he wouldn’t step up to the plate and fight the top-notch fighters in his division. Before he fought Oscar de la Hoya, the only other top names were an aging former featherweight Jesse James Leija, the 5’-2” John Brown, the light-punching Willfredo Rivera, and journeyman Willy Wise.
After the de la Hoya fight, fans were subjected to hand picked opponents like Antonio Diaz, Shannon Taylor, and Adrian Stone. “Who?” you might ask? My sentiments exactly!
After padding his record with these low risk fighters, Shane started to believe in his own invincibility and called out (relatively untested) Vernon Forrest. Forrest not only beat Shane, he dominated him and handed Mosley his first defeat.
The rematch ended up being a replay of their first fight, and Mosley showed boxing fans that he wasn’t the type of fighter that would take the necessary chances to make “big things happen” when he needed to. Avoiding Forrest’s big punches, Mosley was content to be a game loser.
The rematch with Oscar was a one-sided event with Oscar dominating Shane in all punching categories: jabs, punches-landed and power-punches. When the fight was over, Oscar had landed over 100 more total punches than Shane Mosley … outlanding him in every round except one … but somehow Shane Mosley walked away with the biggest gift of his career and was awarded a 12 round decision by the judges. Fans know Shane didn’t win this fight.
In Mosley’s two fights with the light-punching, but very slick southpaw Ronald “Winky” Wright, Shane Mosley proved once again that he wasn’t willing to take the chances to make “big things happen,” and ended up dropping both decisions to Wright back to back.
After dropping five of his last six fights against top fighters, and dropping back down to 147 pounds, fans are going to be presented with another unknown opponent for Mosley in David Estrada. And to add insult to injury, we’ll have to pay for it.
No thanks.
--The Mighty Moe
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