After Floyd Mayweather fight Shane Mosley is ready for Sergio Mora in september
A potentially attractive boxing card is shaping up in Los Angeles for later this year, according to BoxingScene. Sources close to the negotiations report that Shane Mosley could make his return to the ring on September 18 at the Staples Center when he headlines a card against former WBC junior middleweight champion Sergio Mora.
The bout would take place at junior middleweight, although neither fighter regularly boxes in that weight class. Mosley (46-6, 39 KOs) most recently fought Floyd Mayweather Jr. at welterweight on May 1 when he dropped a lopsided 12-round unanimous decision; meanwhile, Mora (22-1-1, 6 KOs) recently fought at super middleweight when he stopped Calvin Green in the seventh round on April 3 in Las Vegas, his first bout since dropping the junior middleweight title to Vernon Forrest in September 2008.
A fight between Mosley and Mora has the potential to be a very solid draw in Los Angeles. It would pit two very entertaining and exciting fighters against each other who also happen to be natives of the area – Mora is from East Los Angeles while Mosley is from nearby Pomona. Mora is scheduled to next fight on July 23 at the Pechanga Casino in Temecula, California against journeyman middleweight Juan Carlos Candelo (30-10-4, 20 KOs).
A bout against Mora would make plenty of sense for Mosley. There might be other names that would be more attractive from the perspective of a national PPV or cable audience, such as Miguel Cotto or Antonio Margarito. But at 38, there’s reason to question whether Mosley has what it takes to be competitive against the top fighters in the sport today. He really wasn’t all that competitive against Mayweather Jr. despite landing a big punch in the second round which temporarily rocked his opponent. However, Mosley was unable to capitalize on the opening, and Mayweather Jr. recovered to win every round moving forward to score a decisive victory.
While Mora is a tough, gritty fighter who has won a world championship before, it’s hard to argue that he’s an elite-level fighter. A victory over Mora would be respectable enough to put Mosley in contention for another big paycheck before the end of his career – possibly against Manny Pacquiao – without putting him in the role of a clear underdog.
Mora’s been in the position of being an underdog in the past and relished the opportunity, and it’s likely he would be in the same position heading into a fight against Mosley. He fought through the odds to become the first season champion of the American reality TV boxing series “The Contender” and was able to use that as a platform to find greater success in the sport. He shocked many boxing fans by defeated the heavily-favoured Forrest for the WBC junior middleweight title via a majority decision in June 2008. His path to a comeback has been stilted in recent months – two scheduled fights against Kelly Pavlik and Jason Naugler were cancelled because of circumstances beyond his control.
The undercard to the bout might be headlined by rising Mexican junior middleweight Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (32-0, 24 KOs). Alvarez is being heavily pushed by Golden Boy Promotions as one of the hot young talents in boxing, and the card (tied to Mexican Independence Day) would be a great opportunity to showcase the talents and in-ring charisma which have made Alvarez a star in Mexico. One name mentioned as a possible opponent for Alvarez on the card is Matthew Hatton (39-4-2, 15 KOs), the younger brother of former world champion and British boxing superstar Ricky Hatton. However, the younger Hatton has a stern test from Yuriy Nuzhnenko in the UK on July 16 to win before he can plan his next fight.
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