Shane Mosley: how highly do you rate him all-time p4p?

I posted my top fighters 1995-now earlier today, and had Mosley at 13th.

1.Roy Jones Jr
2.Floyd Mayweather Jr
3.Lennox Lewis
4.Bernard Hopkins
5.Oscar De La Hoya
6.Manny Pacquiao
7.Marco Antonio Barrera
8.Erik Morales
9.Felix Trinidad
10.Joe Calzaghe
11.Juan Manuel Marquez
12.Winky Wright
13.Shane Mosley
14.Kostya Tszyu
15.Johnny Tapia


I think this is quite generous on old Sugar Shane, considering I have him above guys like Castillo, Casamayor, Michalczewski, Margarito and Cotto, as well as Tszyu, who was an excellent fighter.

However, I noticed quite a lot of people who posted their lists had Mosley in their top 10s.

I can only assume this rating is based on 1 fight, a fantastic performance and fantastic win in his 1st fight with Oscar De La Hoya.

Looking over the rest of Mosley's record I see a second win over De La Hoya that he did not deserve, 2 wins over a well past-prime Fernando Vargas, a couple of wins over decent opposition like Luis Collazo and Philip Holiday, and not much else in the way of quality.

When you balance that with 2 defeats to Vernon Forrest and 2 to Winky Wright (I don't really think of the Cotto defeat as Shane was well past-prime himself by then and performed well on the night), I think we are looking at a weak resume.


Is #13 a fair ranking of him here, or is Shane better than I have given him credit for?

 

Ahead of whom on that list, and why?

 

I can't see the argument for having him above Trinidad, not at all.

 

Why would you have him above Trinidad? Or Marquez?

 

Neither did Shane, who beat Oscar twice but lost 4 against Wright and Forrest! And the rest of Tito's resume is much stronger.

 

Pac didnt win either fight vs JMM
- If Pac didn't win either of them, then Shane certainly didn't win against Oscar in their 2nd fight then, as both Pac-JMM fights were closer than that robbery. So on that basis, Mosley's resume is cut to only one single great victory.

he lost the first fight with Erik and only was able to beat him after he took a beatting from Raheem
- He lost to Morales, who was a fighter better IMO than Winky Wright, and certainly much better than Vernon Forrest. He didn't take a beating so savage from Raheem that it permenantly affected him, he dropped a decision but it wasn't a particularly brutal loss - it was more to do with the weight (Morales was never a lightweight) than anything else. He fought very well in the Pac rematch, he was simply outgunned, plus Pac had worked him out better then - as Shane failed to do 2nd time around against both Forrest and Wright. (note- Morales was 29 at the time of the 2nd fight with Pac, Forrest was 31 and Wright 33 when they fought Mosley for the 2nd time)

So he should and WILL be ranked higher then Pac when its all said and done
- He definitely won't though. Pac is a 5-weight world champion who is still going strong, and has wins over JMM, Morales, peak Barrera, and more to come. He is a far better fighter in all-time p4p terms, and the vast majority of fans and media would agree, of that I am certain. You're wrong there.

And you totally left off Ricado Lopez who should be in the top 5
- Nah, Lopez only had 12 fights after '95 and the opposition was not great. If the time period had been 1990-now then Lopez would be high up, but the thread was best fighters 1995-now. I had Lopez 16th on the basis of those 12 fights, but I think even that was generous.

Higher then Pac, Tito, Lewis
- Most definitely not higher than any of these. Higher than Lewis?? Sober up.

 

At the very bottom end of a top 100, if at all. Realistically he's around the Calzaghe/Tszyu range of things.

 

Absolutely zero change, obviously. What does beating up a shot fighter prove? Nothing, except that Joe took the easiest option possible for his last fight.

 

Agreed. I always think of Calzaghe, Tszyu, Winky Wright, Mosley, as a 'tier' of fighters I rank similarly from the same era.