Should Shane Mosley have taken a tune-up fight?

Bernard Hopkins just came off of 14 months of inactivity in a tune-up against Ornelas. Hopkins was clearly rusty after his lay off which made the first half of the fight closer than it should have been. Had Hopkins returned to the ring against a young, fast, hungry top 10 LHW he very well could have been in trouble. Is Mosley making a huge mistake coming off of a year lay off against an elite welterweight at 38 years of age? Should he have taken a tune-up and who should he have fought?

 

YES. A thousand times yes. But he was chasing big fights to retire on and didn't want to mess a chance at those up. I do think if he'd picked a lesser but decent fighter like Mathew Hatton or Isaac Hlatshwayo to stay sharp, it probably wouldn't have been a problem. Maybe Delvin Rodriguez even. I think he would've taken them handily and it would've been good enough guys to give him rounds and eep him sharp.

 

Keep him sharp, not eep him sharp. The K button on my keyboard is sticking.

 

Wrong forum, meant for general. Apologies.

 

Mosley's been around long enough to belong in here anyway mate

:good

 

Against a guy like Berto, who can move very well and is just as fast as Shane, it would have been good for Mosely to take a tuneup. It might take Shane a while to adjust to the speed of Andre, especially since Shane has been fighting slow fighters as of late. This is gonna be a very tough fight for Shane.

 

Nah doesnt need it. Mosley is getting up there in age, but he seems to still have good timing and speed. Berto who Im not that impressed with seems to be a bit overhyped. He has a lot of holes in his defense and comes forward so wide open. I would be suprised if Berto handles Mosley easy.
I see Mosley just countering the hell out of Berto as he comes forward.

 

Berto just isn't good enough to warrant a tune-up.

Unless Mosley is shot to bits he'll dominate Berto.

 

I disagree. Mosley in form would make easy work of Berto but looked what happened when he fought Mayorga after a long layoff. He looked terrible, and he is now in there with an undefeated, hungry and capable world champion. Berto may just have enough next month....

 

Different animal. Mayorga is a professional version of the guy you hate to spar in the gym. Good chin wheeling sloppy crazy punches from all angles. That kind of style sometimes gives the most technically sound fighters hell. Berto is more of a consistent type fighter who wont be fighting crazy like Mayorga did in all his fights.

 

I think Shane wasn't as bad as made out to be with Mayorga. I think it was more that Mayorga showed up that night, better than he's been in years, more serious, more boxer-like. But Berto, my knee-jerk reaction to this fight was that Shane was going to stomp on him and now I'm thinking it has a good chance of becoming a shift in the WW division. Either way, this is Berto's coming of age fight. If he passes without putting on the biggest hug and bike snoozer, he is a man. If gives a good account of himself and loses, he's still a man. If he gets trounced like a nobody, then the question about him is answered. He'd then be flash without much substance as a champion.

 

I THINK SO TOO. AND I THINK SHANE'S BLEND OF SPEED AND POWER AND SHEER WILL AND NEVERSAYDIE ATTITUDE WOULD LEAD HIM TO VICTORY BY KO OVER EITHER MANNY OR FLOYD. They're right to avoid him, because Shane at his age has nothing to lose and could put a world of hurt on either man. His destruction of the invincible Margarito scared the hell out of a lot of welters and so good job to Berto for fighting him. I like Berto's youth and fearless attIt reminds me of a young Mosely. :smoke

 

Berto strikes me as being a bit of a brat but I have to respect trying to take Mosley on...except, I'm not sure if it's out of confidence, bravery or just not being bright enough to grasp the enormous step up in class he's making here. Mosley at 38 is not Collazo or Urango, with no disrespect intended to them.

 

I think a lot of it has to do with his promoter and also HBO who doesnt tolerate soft touches anymore for their fights. I dont think there is anymore "house" fighters on HBO.

 

I hope you're right because some of those fights sucked:yikes