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Shane Mosley sat down with 411mania.com's Ramon Aranda to discuss his future in boxing, the Cotto-Pacquiao fight, Andre Berto, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and more. It was a pretty interesting interview, and Mosley's got a lot to say these days.
The good news about Mosley and Berto:
411mania – Well we know you two have been going back and forth in terms of the contract and we saw that you tweeted that Berto has signed on; so is this fight now official?
Shane – I believe so! I was informed that he signed the contract so it's on. We'll fight on January 30 at Mandalay Bay and I'm pretty excited about that.
Hooray! The fight is (almost surely) on!
But then the bad:
411mania – Will this be on HBO or PPV?
Shane – You know at this point I think all my fights will be on PPV. Berto I think is PPV material...we can fight on PPV and I'm a PPV fighter but we can do either or – I just want to fight.
Mosley's last pay-per-view fight was against Miguel Cotto in 2007. Since then he's fought Ricardo Mayorga and Antonio Margarito on HBO Championship Boxing. Margarito-Mosley was a bigger fight than Mosley-Berto would be. I don't mean to diminish Shane's accomplishments, because the guy's one of my favorite fighters, period. I love watching him fight. But Mosley-Berto isn't a pay-per-view fight. Neither of them are major draws. Berto's name is essentially unknown to the public at large.
Mosley also discussed his frustration with the Mayweather situation:
411mania – How frustrating was it for you, especially after that win to be on the sidelines for so long? You tried getting the fight with Pacquiao and that didn't work out. You tried calling Mayweather out but he doesn't seem to want a piece of you, or anyone else at welterweight for that matter, so did you have any other alternatives planned out?
Shane – It's been frustrating. When I was coming up, I was forced to fight certain people. I couldn't be like, 'OK I'm a welterweight...who's the lightweight champ right now? Let me fight him.' I couldn't do that! I tried to fight Arturo Gatti and they [HBO] declined that one. I tried Baldomir and they declined it too. They declined all these guys as they wouldn't pay enough for me to fight certain fighters and they let Floyd fight them and I wasn't allowed to and I didn't understand that. And I don't get why HBO and these other networks are not forcing Mayweather to fight real fights. Why do they let him fight these smaller guys? I don't get it!
And on Cotto-Pacquiao:
411mania– Since we're talking about the welterweight division, there's a pretty big match-up next Saturday night in Las Vegas...who's your pick?
Shane – Hmm...I think Cotto's a real welterweight and I think he's probably going to take this. I think Pacquiao's had a lot of problems in his camp and I'd be surprised if he does a number on Cotto which is still very possible. Pacquiao's a very good fighter and he's done some remarkable things – he's come up from 106 to 147 pounds but I think this is where it stops. Cotto's too big for him and I think he'll be able to wear him down like he did with Zab Judah and Carlos Quintana; two good welterweight southpaws.
The full interview is very much worth reading, as Shane discusses how much longer he plans to fight, the future of his son in boxing, the Margarito and Mayorga fights, and more.
