Mosley urges he still feels young, looks to use youth in fight
On Wednesday “Sugar” Shane Mosley, who celebrated his 39th birthday yesterday, got together with Fanhouse’s Lem Satterfield to discuss age and his future in the ring. Mosley said that he feels as youthful as ever, despite coming off a unanimous decision loss to Floyd Mayweather in May.
“Right now, I still feel really young,” Mosley insisted. “I don't feel like I'm a 39-year-old. I don't really think about being 39 or being older until I look at my older kids. Like I look at my son, Shane Jr., who is 6-foot-1, who is 19 years old. I look at my older kids. That's when I say, 'Wow,' I'm getting older.”
Mosley has an upcoming junior middleweight fight against Sergio Mora on 18 Sept. Mora is 10 years Mosley’s junior, and many believe he may just have the youth to be able to defeat the more seasoned Mosley, though Sugar Shane is the favourite.
Mosley argued that if age were to assert itself, it would assert itself in an inability to participate in the things he loves to do. Age would show itself in “not being able to box,” or “snowboard,” or playing “basketball.” However, as long as Mosley keeps doing those things, he believes firmly that he will “always stay young.”
Satterfield was quick to conclude that despite Mosley feeling young, it may well have been age that gave him the disadvantage and the decision loss against Mayweather. Mosley rejected the hypothesis, preferring one instead in which he was simply having a bad night, and wasn’t able to capitalize as is customary.
“What it comes down to is that it was just a case of an off night. It was an off night. My last fight was the Antonio Margarito fight, and there was some time off away from the ring between that fight and the Floyd Mayweather fight. I mean, I didn't fight for over a year.”
In Mora, Mosley will fight the winner of the Contender reality show series, and a former WBC light middleweight champion. All the same, Mosley himself has held the WBA junior middleweight championship, and has successfully competed against almost all the opposition thrust toward him, including the likes of Vernon Forrest, Oscar de la Hoya, Ricardo Mayorga, Antonio Margarito and Floyd Mayweather. Whatever can be said about Mora’s youth must be contrasted with Mosley’s ring experience and knowledge.
“I actually believe that I will have the bigger favour [against Mora]. I fought Oscar and Margarito there [at the Staples Center] and I had tremendous success there. I feel comfortable in that I've beaten Mexican fighters in my career, and I beat two fighters of Mexican descent there at Staples Center.”
Against the naturally bigger Antonio Margarito, who is looking for his biggest payday yet in his 13 November fight with Manny Pacquiao, Mosley was able to convincingly dominate, proving he is still at the top of his division. At the same time Mosley was unable to defeat Vernon Forrest at the welterweight level twice, while Mora, who also took on Forrest twice, was able to win a decision the first time around.
This fight will likely come down to technical skills, and, ironically, youth, since Mosley’s speed will be matched by Mora’s natural power. If Mosley can technically outpoint Mora, he will need the endurance and stamina that comes with youth to go the distance against the bigger Mora. But if age has started to catch up to him, he’ll have to rely more on Mora’s deficiencies and his veteranship to gain the win.
“I know that Sergio is a warrior and believes that he feels that he's the bigger guy in this fight. I believe that he'll look at it like I'm coming up to 154 and that he's coming down to 154. I think that he thinks that he might be big enough that he can punch me out,” Mosley said. "He might try to come out and fight me, but then, I think that he will find out that I carry big punch. And once he figures out that I have a big punch, maybe he might try to box me.”
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