Someone asked Fischer about this matchup and Dougie gave a pretty interesting answer: A prime Sugar Shane Mosley vs. Floyd Mayweather when this fight was first talked about in the late 1990s (98-99), back when Floyd had the WBC 30-pound belt and Shane held the IBF 135-pound strap, I favored Mayweather (believe it or not). I knew that Mosley had to seriously drain himself to make the lightweight limit and if he couldnt whack Mayweather out early, I thought hed fade over the second half of the fight. Also, Mayweathers classic stand-up one-two combo boxing style always troubled Mosley. A stiff, educated jab disrupted Mosleys rhythm. Still, it would have been a tough fight for Mayweather due to Shanes speed, power, physical strength and activity. If they fought at lightweight, I like Mayweather by close decision. If they fought at welterweight, when Mosley first moved up to 147 (late 1999-through-2000, when he still had his lightweight speed and activity, plus the sharper technique he used to exhibit), I think Sugar Shane would have caught Mayweather and taken him out. But Mayweather would have always presented a tough style for Mosley and Floyd always knew it. I witnessed Mayweather aggressively call Shane out backstage at the old Joint (inside the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas) after Mosley knocked out Wily Wise on HBO.
I'm not a Mayweather stan or anything but Fischer rarely has a good word to say about him. He picked Shane to beat Floyd when they fought (like he picked Canelo and thought Guerrero would give him a very good fight), so I'm sure the result of that has changed his opinion.
He still picks prime Shane to knock Mayweather out at WW. At the same though, he states that Mayweather presents Shane with a stylisitic difficulty and that Mayweather aggresively tried to fight Shane right after Shane moved up to WW.
As I remember, he always used to say that it was Shane who presented Floyd with the stylistic problems and picked him to beat him at 135 too. Floyd was very vocal about calling out Shane but, not long after, Shane fought Oscar at 147. Floyd was still talking about fighting both guys but the weight difference made it seem unlikely at the time. Arum flat-out said the Oscar fight would never happen and a fighter going straight from 130lbs to fight Shane coming off the Oscar win was probably never going to happen either.
Dougie Fischer absolutely sucks with his impressions on fights. He routinely makes absolute howlers, I'm not even reading what he thinks.
I agree with him. Mosley looked great at 135 but he was facing mediocre opposition. People gloss over his record, but if he was better there than he was at 147 from 2000-01, it definitely isn't by much. Mayweather is the more skilled, smarter boxer and I'd pick him by decision at LW. At 147 in the late 90s/early 00s, yeah Mosley would probably win, although it's not exactly a fair matchup in size. The Mosley at WW up until the Forrest fight against the best Mayweather at WW? That's a difficult fight for Floyd.
Dougie is one of if not the biggest hater of floyd around. If he says anything good about floyd it means a lot. My take on this is if he thinks Floyd beats him at 135 he thinks he always beats him.
He does not like floyd folks, he makes that very clear in his mailbag. Just another keyboard warrior in my opinion!!
Agreed with the part on the educated jab disrupting Mosley's timing ...Look at how successful Forrest was.
