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Robert Guerrero, who was largely laughed off (or shouted off) as a potential May 5 opponent for Floyd Mayweather Jr before Richard Schaefer put a public stop to all that talk, says now that he's willing to prove his worth as a potential Mayweather opponent by moving up to welterweight and facing ... Shane Mosley.
Just as when Mosley came up as a rumored opponent for Amir Khan, I'll say these three things:
- Mosley is 40 years old.
- Mosley is shot.
- Mosley will be used by someone in a lame attempt to increase their value. Canelo Alvarez's name has also been attached to Mosley.
Guerrero and Khan are guys who could use a win over a name opponent, but man -- I think Shane Mosley is being read all wrong by some of these dudes. He was booed out of the building for his "performance" against Manny Pacquiao, drew nothing but bad press for his awful fight with Sergio Mora, and had one good round against Floyd Mayweather. He's just not the fighter he used to be. He's not remarkably different than Roy Jones Jr anymore. If he fought some scrubs, he'd win a few, too, just like Roy does between ugly losses.
Just so no one thinks I'm using hindsight here, this is what I said the morning after Pacquiao vs Mosley:
I hate to say any fight was "easy," but Manny Pacquiao had it pretty easy last night against old Shane Mosley. It pains me to "trash" Shane Mosley, but we have to be honest about who he is. If anyone ever tries to sell you another Shane Mosley fight with the speed that we know he doesn't have and the trigger we know he can't pull, hey, watch it if you want to, but expect nothing.
And here's what I said right after Pacquiao vs Mora:
I've got no interest in seeing a visibly worn-out, old, and tired Shane Mosley get in the ring with Andre Berto or Manny Pacquiao or anyone. I know how those fights end at this point, and it's not pretty. Shane Mosley has taken a lot of damage over his Hall of Fame-bound career. The time to get out is now. I don't mean to knock Mora when I say this, but if Shane Mosley can't convince three ringside judges -- no matter their experience level -- that he won a fight with Sergio Mora, it's time to hang it up. He'd be getting out while the getting is as good as it's going to get.
Mosley (46-7-1, 39 KO) probably will lose badly to either Khan or Guerrero if he fights either one of them. It's not because Khan or Guerrero are such great fighters, either. It's because Shane Mosley is done. The real Mosley smokes either of them, in my estimation, the same as the real Jones would have clowned Denis Lebedev, Glen Johnson, or even Joe Calzaghe. Like Khan and Guerrero, those three men were good fighters at their best, but not great. Jones and Mosley were once great. And that was a long time ago at this point.
So forgive me if I don't find any legitimate value in a Guerrero vs Mosley fight. It's not Guerrero; it's Mosley. But I don't think much of this call-out, either.