Why oh why oh why oh why-bare with me here -oh why oh why isn't Mosley more popular?

Agreed. There are action fighters that a lot of people here at ESB enjoy watching because, as a general rule, we're more knowledgeable about boxing than the general public - fighters like Katsidis, Darchinyan, Valero, Miranda, or more skilled boxers like Juan-Manuel Marquez, Shane Mosley, to a lesser extent Chris John or Ivan Calderon, and some might make a case for the recent breakout of Andre Ward against Kessler, but these fighters will never get the publicity, popularity or exposure of truly 'popular' fighters simply due to the lack of marketing.

It remains to be seen how much the Super Six will do for Ward, though. This could be huge for his marketability as a potentially undefeated, undisputed Super-Middleweight Champion, if the tournament pans out that way.

 

Good guy, dignified champ. I root for him.

What kind of watch does he wear? :think

 

I've always wondered about this aswell. A combination of all the things mentioned by others so far is all I can come up with:

1) Nice guy, not confrontational or dramatic enough to turn heads.

2) Losing at crucial times, taking the air out of his balloon consistently.

3) Losing rematchs is a big deal also. Difficult to pass it off as an 'off-night'. Can you imagine if PW lost to Quintana the 2nd time?

4) Balco fiasco probably didn't help.


Can anyone tell me what was the public perception of him after beating DLH for the 2nd time? He surely would have been the main man after beating boxing's biggest draw x2 and remaining undefeated?

 

Simple. He got big during the time of Tito and Oscar. So he was always going to be overshadowed. Now he's overshadowed by Floyd and Pacquiao.

 

I think the Forrest losses took him out of the general fan's radar. HBO was really building him up, and the Forrest fights just ****ed that all up. He was never promoted in the same way.

 

Yup.

The fact is he was never a special Welter/ SuperWelterweight. A monster at lightweight. It was his decision to move up. The Forest matches, and then the Winky dominations, really spoiled the idea that he was a super elite fighter, at least at the weights he's now campaigning at.

 

You're right, foreman should have never fought Ali. God that fight sucked.

You got something against Mosely?

 

Here are the reasons why Mosley never became more popular

1. Terrible Promotion. Mosley's career started slow, heck he was living in his parents garage when De la hoya was making millions. Blame it not being a gold medalist or whatever, Mosley just didn't start off well. After the 2000 De La Hoya win, his promoter Cedric Kushner did a terrible job promoting him. He should have tried to secure a fight with someone big, maybe Kostya Tszyu as De La Hoya, Vargas and Trinidad were fighting others. But it didn't happen. He fought and destroyed 2nd rate opposition and nobody cared.

2. Vernon Forrest. This was always going to be a nightmare match-up for Shane. It was in the Amateurs and it turned out to be in the pros. The great Eddie Futch once said that Shane maybe could fight and do well against Sugar Ray Robinson but he didn't know if he could beat Vernon Forrest. Styles make fights, and this was just a bad match-up for Shane. There was a reason why Sugar Ray Robinson never fought Holman Williams, and Charley Burley. Mosley in hindsight should have had a better match maker. His fights with Winky Wright were an example of bad match making.

3. Balco...Whether he knew he was taking PEDs or not in 2003 prior the 2nd the De La Hoya fight. He used bad judgement by involving himself with Balco. To me this is a black mark but not the be all end all, as it was only a small portion of his career. Plus who is to say PEDs make you a better fighter. It sure didn't help Vargas when De La Hoya knocked him out. This isn't cycling or track and field, you have somebody trying to knock you out, and if you don't have a chin or skill PEDs are not going make a huge difference. But perception is reality.

4. He just wasn't meant to be a big star outside of boxing. There is nothing wrong with what Mosley accomplished in his career. Mosley will be a 1st ballot hall of famer, he is a multimillionaire, and he will go down as one of the 10 best fighters of his era, and one of the 100 greatest fighters who ever lived, nothing wrong with that. He was burdened with the 'Sugar' moniker and ended up being a little short of Robinson and Leonard. There will never be another Robinson, and he was close to Leonard. Nothing wrong with that.