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It looks like the potential December 19 fight between newly-crowned WBO junior middleweight titlist Liam "Beefy" Smith and veteran "Sugar' Shane Mosley is a no-go. Depending on your opinion of the idea, this is either a disappointment or great news.
Mosley took to Twitter, as he will do, to address the situation, making it all sound like a dead issue:
Let the bullshit begin. I agreed 2all your terms @frankwarren_tv & you didn't even bring the fight up to WBO #BeReal https://t.co/rRHa7PjwRc
— Shane Mosley (@ShaneMosley_) October 31, 2015
How these dudes expect to get any respect when they are too scared to back up THEIR talk. You called me out. Your promoter called me. Whack
— Shane Mosley (@ShaneMosley_) October 31, 2015
Warren called & said WBO wouldn't sanction fight, but I talked 2 Paco & he hadn't heard about fight til I called https://t.co/6u2ptlVG5z
— Shane Mosley (@ShaneMosley_) October 31, 2015
Man BS from the start. Was a farce. Even his last interview saying we were "negotiating" was after they told me no https://t.co/Lue7aXr0qg
— Shane Mosley (@ShaneMosley_) October 31, 2015
Mosley, 44, is 2-4-1 in his last seven fights, returning on August 29 for a rematch win over an out of shape Ricardo Mayorga, who clearly showed up merely to cash whatever paycheck he could. Mosley, for whatever it's worth, was in shape as always and looked pretty sharp, but it's hard to say how much of that was a reinvigorated Mosley and how much was him having nothing to worry about against Mayorga.
But a win's a win in boxing, and while Mosley (48-9-1, 40 KO) may not be currently ranked in the WBO top 15, who cares, they could fix that in a few days and just say he's ranked now. Sanctioning bodies do stuff like that all the time.
Of course, this is all he-said, he-said right now, between Warren, who claims the WBO won't sanction the fight, and Mosley, who claims he spoke with WBO President Paco Valcarcel, who apparently hadn't ever been asked about the fight.
Whatever comes of this, Smith (21-0-1, 11 KO) will be making his first WBO junior middleweight title defense on December 19 in Manchester.