I always ask questions about fighter's primes time from time and would like Classic's opinion on this. I think Mosley's prime ended after the Forrest fights and De La Hoya's prime ended probably after the Hopkins fight. I love Mosley's prime you could tell he had a lil "Sugar" in him and with DLH, he was great to watch in his prime too.
I think both their primes ended when they faced each other at 154 pounds. They both starting fighting a lot less consistently. DLH looked dreadful against Sturm and Mosley looked pretty lost against Wright.
Its hard to say, Delahoya looked rejuvinated and had more bows to his string at 154lbs but physically he was at his best at 147, although his defense/right hand wasn't quite as cultured at that stage. When he went to 160lbs it was more because Hopkins/Sturm would bow to the wage demands that Mosley would not. It really showed because it certainly wasnt his weight class and after the Hopkins fight he was very innactive With Mosley its a whole other kettle of fish, I'd say the first Oscar fight was his prime but Oscar did play into Shane's hands a little. At 154lbs Shane wasn't really putting his punches together aswell and didnt have the physical advantages but in the second Winky fight he did very very well and it was closer than most admit. After that he didn't get any big fights until Cotto years later when he had faded
De La Hoya's prime may have ended around the time he fought Mosley. It's hard for me to tell with Mosley because he's allways fighting his opponents fight. So he'll have poor showings like the one against Mayorga, and then he'll go and look amazing against Margarito.
Well Mayorga outweighed Shane by like 10 pounds so he was fighting at a disadvantage anyways. Good posts people this thread is going just like I thought it would.
Mayorga may have outweighed him, but Shane should've been able to box circles around MAyorga. Shane's got that machismo though. If his opponent stands and fights, Shane will do the same.
Shane's never been a boxer. I agree the jab would've made him an all-around threat but SSM just loves to slug it out. It's the Mexican Warrior in him.
Absolutely. I think my expections of Mosley were allways way too high because of the Sugar nickname. Can you think of any examples of SSM outboxing opponents?
At the end of the day he will always be a "Sugar" and a future HOF'er but like the little brother not as skilled as his older brothers(SRL & SRR). Nothing wrong with that his "two brothers" are two of the greatest boxers in history with Robinson being mostly considered the greatest boxer of all-time. Mosley threw many jabs versus Antonio Diaz(watching it now) that's the most times I remember him jab and he did fight more like a boxer in that fight. The only example I can really use. Shane reminds me of a stronger version of Meldrick Taylor. Both can use the jab and had great speed but they just preferred to trade shots instead of making fights easier for them by boxing more.
Love the Meldrick Taylor comparison. They both have the ability to outbox most opponents but instead choose to go to war. Right, and no shame in being the 3rd best Sugar after the other 2 greats. I'll check out the Diaz fight. Thanks.
I have to agree. Shane Mosley rides on a wave of goodwill on this forum, on the basis that he has a fight-anyone attitude and seems to be a thoroughly good guy, but the fact is that his win resume is anoxeric and as a fighter he was very limited. Oscar boxed rings round him second time they met, I think that night was the end of Shane's prime; even though a bigger, stronger, better technician like Winky Wright would always have beaten him anyway.
Yes he could. His problem is that he relied on "Power boxing" too much. He had the potential to be a good boxer-puncher and that probably would've helped his career more but instead he stuck to being a slugger.