When people talk about Mosley they often remenisce about his lightweight days saying how he was the best since Roberto Duran. I have seen most of these fights on dvd and was wondering what other fighters were there out there he didn't face and would they have stood a chance. I'm talking about when he won the title in 1997 against Phillip Holiday. If he had fought the other champions would they enhance his legacy or be fogotton by names like Margarito or De La Hoya. What was the state of the divison in that period anyway, because his 8 defences don't seem to special to me. I aren't claiming he avoided people but am wondering what were the other elite like?
lightweight divsion got pretty weak once sweet pea and camacho and all the likes moved north ... it stayed weak too till fmj and castillio ..corrales and company came forward and made it strong again
No way. Oscar De La Hoya established himself the better 135lber than Mosley. Oscar beat better competition at 135lb and more convinsingly.
I think Orzubek Nazarov was regarded as the top lightweight when Mosley became a champion. Nazarov may have given Shane his toughest fight at Light weight, he was a bronze medalist at the world amateur championships and was a devastating puncher. He only lost and retired after being shot in a drive by I believe and was actually blind in one eye when he lost to Mendy.
Mosley was damn good at lightweight, but better during his early welterweight days. The only common opponent he and De La Hoya had at lightweight was Molina, and Mosley stopped him in 8 rounds. De La Hoya on the otherhand went the full course with him. Mosley had more defenses at lightweight. De La Hoya unified the WBO and IBF titles, yet had fewer titles defenses. Ruelas, Hernandez, and probably Leija and Paez were his best wins. It's reasonably close between Mosley and De La Hoya at the weight.
