Shane Mosley to be trained by Roberto Duran for next fight

Shane Mosley is planning his return to the ring soon, and will have a new face in his corner, as the legendary Roberto Duran will replace Kenny Porter as trainer to the 44-year-old fighter.

Mosley (49-9-1, 41 KO) returned from a retirement last August, beating an awfully out of shape Ricardo Mayorga at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, which was run as an independent pay-per-view in the United States. Though few saw the fight and what there was to see wasn't impressive thanks to Mayorga's non-effort, Mosley did look pretty sharp, eventually knocking Mayorga out in the sixth round.

He didn't rest on that win and wait around, either, as he got back into the ring in December, stopping Patrick Lopez in the 10th round in Panama City, at Arena Roberto Duran. That fight showed that Mosley likely can still make the welterweight limit if necessary, after fighting Mayorga at middleweight. (Well, Mosley made the weight, anyway.)

Mosley had last been seen in late 2013, losing a junior middleweight fight to Anthony Mundine in Australia, stopped for the first time in his career, though it was due to a back injury. After time off, which Mosley says helped him get healthy for the first time in years, he embarked on a comeback. The jury is still out on whether or not it will really be successful, but the earliest stages have gone well.

As for working with Duran, Mosley said, "I am very happy to have Duran on my team. This is the type of addition that will push me even farther. He is a fighter that I looked up to when I was coming up. How can you not learn from a legend like him?"

Mosley has said that he's working on securing a world title fight. It's worth noting that WBO junior middleweight titleholder Liam Smith (22-0-1, 12 KO) and Mosley had a war of words last year, after Smith won the belt, and there was some talk that a fight between the two was being negotiated, though ultimately it did not happen. That could be the plan here, or maybe it will be something else. The other world titleholders at 154 pounds are Erislandy Lara (WBA), who is working on a rematch with Vanes Martirosyan; and Jermall Charlo (IBF), who is said to be facing Austin Trout next, and also has a mandatory due at some point with Julian Williams. The WBC title is currently vacant.

At 147, the titleholders are Kell Brook (IBF), who faces Kevin Bizier tomorrow in Sheffield, England; Danny Garcia (WBC); Keith Thurman (WBA), who will take on Shawn Porter on June 25; and Jessie Vargas (WBO), who is slated to return in July for his first title defense.

Of that group, the most likely scenarios would seem to be a fight with Liam Smith, or a crack at the vacant WBC 154-pound title against, well, who could guess? But that's assuming it will be an actual world title fight. The WBA could invent a belt, too, they like doing that.