The reason why Shane Mosley will never be an all-time great

Shane Mosley to me is a legend in the sport. His record might keep him below guys like DLH and Trinidad by a few notches, but Mosley fought everyone, anytime, anywhere. He almost went specifically out of his way to take difficult fights...jumping two weight classes to fight DLH, fighting Forrest, Winky, even guys like Cruz, Collazo, Estrada, Vargas and Mosley which would not do much for his overall record. He also beat Cotto, IMO although that fight was pretty damn even.

He also is naturally a much smaller man than most of these guys, and yet stood there and fought his ass off. I never have to question whether Mosley will come to fight, or whether Mosley will fight the best, because he always does.

He is also one of the best athletes in boxing over the last 25 years, and had speed and power that was RJJ'esque for most of his career.

 

Mosley is a rare breed in modern boxing, he went out of his way to take on the best challenges even if he didnt have to.

The first De La Hoya fight was amazing where to elite boxers face h2h at their very peak!

Mosley does have a few losses, but he didnt have to face Forrest and nobidy was fighting Winky. Shane fought Winky, when nobody was fighting winky!!

I still think he is a great fighter and will rightfully be entered into the HOF.

 

Who is the second best fighter Shane Mosley ever beat?

 

Mosley's generally fought the big names, it's just that this latter half of his career has been a bit disappointing.

 

There are reasons, but merely losing to Vernon Forrest is not enough.

 

It's true.

His resume of wins is not impressive enough to be an ATG, by at least some people's assessments of what an ATG is (I think the term is rather broad, some people say it's top 30 ever, some say top 50, some say top 100, etc..).