It certainly isn’t the first time “Sugar” Shane Molsey has decided to call it a career. After one previous stint at retirement following a loss to Canelo Alvarez, Mosley stepped away from the sport for a brief period of time. He would return and notch a win over the tough Pablo Cesar Cano before having his now final match with Anthony Mundine in Austrailia. I know what you are probably thinking, Mosley is just going to take a break and continue to fight when he is healed up.
Wrong. It seems that Mosley is dead set on staying retired, ” I feel now is the time. I had all the fights I could possibly fight. When you start getting injuries that are not about the boxing, not about the punching that means your body is getting older and it is time to give it up.”
In talking with Shane Mosley he seems at peace with his decision to retire for good from the sweet science and emphasized to me during our conversation that it had nothing to do with the result of the Mundine bout. He actually had plans for a few more bouts, but with the injury it all but nailed the notion to him that boxing is a young man’s sport. And with all the new blood that is quickly rising in the welterweight division and the continued growth of his own son, Shane Mosley Jr., the time was good as any to step away.
Mosley now transitions from student and fighter, to teacher and trainer as his focus at this point onwards will be his son, ” My son, I want to train him. He is getting older and I just felt now is the time. I have no regrets. I wanted to go in their and give it my all and have no regrets.”
Shane Mosley certainly did that every time he stepped into the ring. In a career that spanned twenty years he amassed millions and accolades that will make him a first ballot hall of famer when he becomes eligible. Fans will remember him as a action fighter that was always willing to fight and his matches with Fernando Vargas, Vernon Forrest and others speaks for themselves. Other great Mosley moments include the second round of his fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. and pair of thrilling wins over Oscar De La Hoya. All of which will be remembered with great fondness. Though whether he likes it or not, many fans will put a asterisk on those wins. His admittance that he was unknowingly misled to using PED’s by Victor Conte will always be a sore subject to the most ardent of fan.
Mosley’s shinning moment for many of us came on the night of January 25th, 2009. He stepped into the ring against Antonio Margarito as the vast underdog in front of a sold out Staples Center who eagerly awaited for him to get utterly beaten. Mosley would put on a clinic against the iron chinned Margarito and became the first man to stop him and break the wave of momentum he had enjoyed up to that point.
After the win, Mosley would take a bow to the screaming twenty thousand plus fans who were mostly their to cheer the Mexican fighter. He would do so three other times addressing the four points of the squared circle smiling from ear to ear as the mostly pro-Margarito crowd now cheered for him. To me, it was his finest moment. It was a ending straight out of a movie that was all but missing a orchestra playing in the background. The cheering of thousands, Mosley standing in the middle of the ring bowing, smiling.
It was something truly magical.
