Source: Sha'boy Chris Mannix got the scoop!
In terribly unsurprising news, word is from Chris Mannix at Sports Illustrated that retired pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr. has turned down a fight with reigning WBA welterweight titleholder Shane Mosley.
You may recall that Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer immediately told Mosley after his TKO win over Antonio Margarito on January 24 that he'd be in contact with Mayweather's people.
"I was told by [Mayweather's manager] Al Haymon that Floyd was not coming out of retirement to fight Shane Mosley," Schaefer told SI.com. "I feel bad for Shane. It's as if he looked too good in his last fight. It was the best performance of his career and maybe it made some guys not want to face him."
Schaefer goes on to say he's had preliminary talks with Bob Arum about a Mosley-Cotto rematch. If Cotto doesn't fight Mosley, he could fight Andre Berto, or Mosley could fight Berto, leaving Cotto out in the cold.
And yet nobody is talking about fighting poor Joshua Clottey. Bob Arum has the time and sense of outrage to try to book Antonio Margarito in a Mexican ring sometime soon, but he can't find a single damned fight for Clottey.
In true Chris Mannix fashion, he finishes the column with this:
There is one other potential opponent out there [for Mosley]: De La Hoya, who has yet to announce if he will fight again after his December loss to Pacquiao. But even if De La Hoya chooses to get back into the ring, it won't be for a third fight with Mosley.
"That's not going to happen," said Schaefer. "I honestly don't know what Oscar is going to do. I don't think Oscar is ready to commit to anything right now. And Shane has moved on. He's clearly the No. 1 welterweight in the world. He wants to be in there with the biggest and the best."
Mannix notes a potential opponent, then immediately states that the fight won't happen. So it's not really a potential fight at all. Just a way to mention Oscar.