Boxing Breakfast: Shane Mosley's Teenage Tragedy

Tragedy in Shane Mosley's Youth

Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times penned an emotionally powerful article on Shane Mosley yesterday, and everyone should read it. The story deals with Mosley, at age 16, being involved in an automobile accident that took the life of his beloved 3-year-old nephew, Diamond.

Mosley didn't know a nail had punctured the car's left rear tire, creating a slow leak. The back tires spun badly and the teenager lost control of the wheel.

"We hit a curb and rolled down the hill, the car flipping all the way down," Mosley said. "As we were flipping, the car roof hit my head several times."

The article largely deals with Mosley, now 39, coming to terms with what happened 23 years ago. But you can't help but cringe a bit at this part:

[A] review of his San Bernardino County driving record bears that out. The boxer has been stopped for traffic violations — mostly speeding — 11 times since 2000. On the opening segment of Showtime's "Pacquiao-Mosley Fight Camp 360" series, Mosley was shown driving a sports car in excess of 100 mph. He admits he could exercise more caution behind the wheel but notes, "It's only me in the car."

Bad Left Hook Radio

In case you missed it yesterday, the debut episode of Bad Left Hook Radio went up. The feature of the show was the Pacquiao vs Mosley preview, but I also talked about Floyd Mayweather Jr., Kelly Pavlik, Wladimir Klitschko vs David Haye, Amir Khan and Timothy Bradley, and more. Enjoy!

Great Quote

"Oh, that's great. I guess Mayweather is setting up his next fight. That's good for him."
-- Bob Arum on Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s comment that he'd skip Pacquiao vs Mosley to watch Lady Gaga on HBO.

Tributes to Sir Henry Cooper

Fight Chatter

• Ricky Burns will defend his super featherweight trinket on July 16 in Liverpool. No opponent has been named.

Link Parade!

• Joe Maxse of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer has a new Kelly Pavlik article. Quote: "If I come back and don't perform at the top of the top, it's going to be brutal. This is one of the most important fights of my career, believe it or not."
• 38-year-old Jesus Chavez has finally retired. At his best he was one hell of a fighter.
• USA Today profiled Manny Pacquiao.

Song of the Day

I re-watched Rocky Balboa last night for no particular reason other than I was in a boxing drama sort of mood.