Mayweather- Mosley does 1.1 to 1.2 million PPV buys?

By Dan Ambrose: According to the Twitter page of Yahoo Sports writer Kevin Iole, he’s hearing from “good sources” that last Saturday’s bout between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Shane Mosley only did between 1.1 and 1.2 million pay per view buys. If this turns out to be the case, this would be a huge disappointment for Mayweather, Mosley and Golden Boy Promotions, especially the CEO of that company Richard Schaefer.

It was Schaefer who had initially predicted that the Mayweather-Mosley fight would bring in 3 million PPV buys. He later changed it to 4 million PPV buys, and some people thought he was delusional with that figure. If it does wind up as only 1.1 or 1.2, it would show how badly off his estimations were for this fight. It did seem strange that for over a month leading up to the Mayweather vs. Mosley fight, there was hardly talk at all about the fight, both in terms of articles on it and in the various popular boxing forums on the internet. That wasn’t a good sign, since the internet chatter – or lack thereof – about particular fights are usually a good sign of whether a fight is going to be successful or a dud in the final PPV numbers.

I never thought this fight was going to be huge. The reason being was that Mosley, as great as he is, never was a huge PPV draw on his own against other fighters not named Oscar De La Hoya. Mosley did well in his fights against De La Hoya, but he failed to bring in the huge numbers in other fights. There was something missing from him. It didn’t help matters that he was beaten twice by both Vernon Forrest and Winky Wright in the prime of his career.

Those defeats really took a lot of the air out of making Mosley a huge PPV attraction, in my estimation. It obviously wasn’t a good idea on his part to fight rematches with both fighters after being soundly beaten in his first fights with them. Nothing much changed in his rematches, and it now seems like a bad decision on his part to fight them again. Mosley still remains as a good fighter, but I think he probably wasn’t as popular enough to bring the PPV numbers into the 2 million range, which has only been accomplished once before with the De La Hoya vs. Mayweather bout.

I knew the Mayweather vs. Mosley fight wasn’t going to be as popular as that fight, because that bout was talked about for months. There was huge excitement about that fight. It didn’t matter that De La Hoya was seen as on the downside of his career, there was still a lot of interest in that fight going into it. In the case of the Mayweather-Mosley fight, a lot of people saw Mosley as too old, not active enough and not a good enough boxer to beat a skilled fighter like Mayweather.

It turned out to be the exact case, as Mayweather totally dominated Mosley, beating him by an easy 12 round decision. But the lack of excitement about the fight going into it was really telling. Mosley didn’t have anything really special about him to grab onto in recent years. He wasn’t knocking everyone out and had suffered a loss to Miguel Cotto in 2007. Mosley beat Ricardo Mayorga recently, but looked in the eyes of some people to be on the verge of losing the bout until scoring a 12th round knockout.

There’s nothing wrong with Mayweather-Mosley generating only 1.1 or 1.2 million PPV buys. Those are respectable numbers, given that there was really only one huge star in that fight – Mayweather. If this ends up being the final numbers, both fighters will still get a huge payday – In Mayweather’s case, over $22 million, and $7 million for Mosley.

Mayweather dominates Mosley and wins unanimous decision!

By Sam Gregory: Tonight on HBO pay per view boxing the highly anticipated mega-fight between undefeated Floyd “Money” Mayweather 40-0 with 25 KO’s and “Sugar” Shane Mosley 46-5 with 39 KO’s finally got underway at just after 11:30 EST.

Shane Mosley’s trainer Naazim Richardson stayed in Mayweather’s dressing room to watch the wrapping of Mayweather’s gloves which caused somewhat of a delay in the fight. Immediately after his hands were wrapped, Floyd Mayweather was handed the gloves he was to wear for the fight. This was the first time Mayweather saw the gloves without trying them on before the fight which was an unusual set of circumstances according to ringside commentator Emanuel Steward.

So because of the delay by the Shane Mosley camp Floyd Mayweather took his time entering the ring as well.

Round 1 Mosley appeared to be very tense as both men tested their opponent with jabs; there were several clinches in the round but neither fighter did much in the way of landing punches. Mosley slipped and touched his glove to the canvas.

In round 2 Mosley hi0t Mayweather with a very hard right to the head; Mosley landed another right to the head that wobbled Mayweather and he appeared hurt. Mayweather tied up after the punches. Mosley had a very good round.

In round 3 Mayweather landed 2 solid shots to Mosley’s head. Mayweather was landing more accurate shots; both fighters looked to be in a testing out mode like they were in the first round.

Between rounds both corners told their fighters to settle down and box

Round 4 both men threw jabs than tied up; Mayweather stepped up the rhythm of the fight and landed a hard fight hand. Mosley slowed down considerably in this round; Mayweather had a better round landing more punches.

Round 5 both men traded punches; Mosley tied up Mayweather and pushed him across the ring; the ref warned both fighters for holding. Mayweather dictated the offensive flow of the fight; Mosley was fighting Mayweather’s fight.

Round 6 Mayweather was throwing his jab and catching Mosley as he tried to counter; Mayweather was landing big punches inside. Mayweather had another good round.

4 rounds to 2 for Mayweather

Round 7 Mayweather is outlanding Mosley with power shots and combinations. Mayweather is having a big round landing punches at will. Mosley looks tired and beat after this round.

Between rounds Richardson tells Mosley to wake up

Round 8 Mosley gets warned for holding; Mosley looks beat and frustrated. Mayweather landed punches at will.

Round 9 another round where Mayweather lands punches at will pot shoting Mosley; Mosley looks frustrated even more.

Between rounds Mayweather looks so relaxed he hardly looks like he’s in a fight

Round 10 Mosley lands a punch but Mayweather counters with a double combination. Mayweather lands punches so hard and sharp, Mosley looks tired and beat

Between rounds Richardson is very frustrated with Mosley

Round 11 Mosley has no power in his jab; Mayweather throws and lands combinations at will; Mosley misses and looks frustrated.

Round 12 Mayweather had another solid round; Mosley wasn’t really in this round or in this fight since round 2.

After the twelfth and final round the fight goes to the judge’s scorecards:

119-109 twice and 118-110 all for the winner Floyd Mayweather

Weigh-in: Mayweather 146, Mosley 147

By Eric Thomas: At today’s weigh-in, undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr. (40-0, 25 KO’s) weighed in at 146 for his fight tomorrow night against Shane Mosley (46-5, 39 KO’s) at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Mosley, 38, weighed in a pound heavier at 147. Mayweather is reportedly getting $40 million for the fight. Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy Promotions is hoping that the fight sells 4 million pay-per-view buys. However, 2 million is what many people are projecting for the fight. Mosley supposedly has a secret plan that he is going to be using tomorrow night. He’s spotted a flaw in Mayweather’s game and plans on exploiting it. Hopefully, Mosley has a plan ‘B’ and ‘C’ to fall back on if things don’t work out with his original plan.

Mosley has been out of action for the past year trying to line up a big money fight. He had hopes of fighting Andre Berto, but that fight fell through after Berto had to cancel due to an earthquake in Haiti. Before that, Mosley had been looking to try and get a fight with Manny Pacquiao. However, he showed no interest in fighting Mosley.

Other fights on the card:

Saul Alvarez 150, Jose Cotto 149
Daniel Ponce de Leon 125, Cornelius Lock 125
Said Ouali 146, Hector Saldivia 147.5
Arturo Morua 141, Jessie Vargas 142

Mayweather argues with Jim Rome about being better than Muhammad Ali

By Eric Thomas: With only one day to go before tomorrow’s fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Shane Mosley, Mayweather took time to conduct an interview with television sports personality Jim Rome on his show. Mayweather continued to argue that he’s better than Muhammad Ali, saying “Why Muhammad Ali and not me? Ali fought Ken Norton three times and really he lost three times to Norton. Ali lost to Leon Spinks. Spinks had only seven fights, and Ali never threw any body punches. Just because I’m Floyd and I don’t take a lot of punishment. There’s nothing cool about laying on the ropes and taking punishment and then coming back and fighting again. What’s so great about my career is that I did it in great form and great fashion. I dominate. What so great about those fighters back then that’s not so great about fighters now?”

Rome seemed uncomfortable with the exchange and not as quick on the facts and figures to counter Mayweather’s claims. Ali beat Norton two out of three times. He clearly lost the first fight. It’s strange why Mayweather keeps comparing himself to Ali and Sugar Ray Robinson, as if he needs to validate himself for some reason. Mayweather doesn’t need to. He’s had a great career and if he were to end his career after his bout with Mosley, he would still go down as an all time great. It doesn’t matter that Mayweather may never fight Manny Pacquiao. He doesn’t need to fight Pacquiao to prove his greatness as a fighter.

Mayweather has done all that’s been asked of him by beating the fighters that have been put in front of him. Tomorrow night, Mayweather will likely cement his legacy by pounding the 38-year-old Mosley into the canvas and proving that he’s one of the best fighters that has ever breathed. I think it’s beneath Mayweather to waste time comparing himself to fighters from the past. He’s his own man, and in a different era and different class. Comparisons are really pointless. That’s for boxing fans and experts to make, not for fighters that have other things to worry about.

Mayweather: “I’m the face of boxing”

By Eric Thomas: At the final news conference today, Floyd Mayweather Jr. seemed confident and ready for his fight this Saturday against Shane Mosley. Mayweather stands to make $40 million for this fight, which is thought to be the kind of money that he would be making for a fight against Manny Pacquiao. Mosley, in contrast, will make around $7 million.

Mayweather had this to say about his big paychecks he gets: “Other young up and coming fighters ask, ‘why does Floyd make so much more money? But they fail to realize that Floyd Mayweather’s keeping the sport going. I’m the face of boxing.” That may or may not be true. Mayweather certainly wasn’t the sport of boxing when he suddenly retired from the sport in 2007 rather than fight a rematch with Oscar De La Hoya.

The rematch wasn’t all that important, as it’s pretty clear that Mayweather would have probably won the fight and got another pick payday. However, Mayweather didn’t help boxing by not being able to put together a fight against Manny Pacquiao and he also likely didn’t help it much by selecting Juan Manuel Marquez, a pumped up super featherweight, to fight last September.

As for Mayweather being the face of boxing, that’s debatable. If that question was put to boxing fans in the United States, there’s a good chance that Manny Pacquiao would be neck and neck with Mayweather and could end up coming out on top with fans by virtue of his high visibility fights against De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton, Miguel Cotto and Joshua Clottey in the past two years.

Mayweather says “I’ve always had great results.” There’s no question that Mayweather has done well in the ring against what he’s been matched up with. But critics often point out that Mayweather’s opposition hasn’t always been the best. Even Mosley’s noticed that, and asks why Mayweather chose to fight Marquez when there were better options out there at the time in the welterweight division for Mayweather to fight. Instead of taking on a legitimate welterweight, Mayweather had Marquez, a undersized lightweight, move up in weight to the welterweight division to fight him.

Naturally, with a ton of weight to put in a short time frame, a good portion of the weight that Marquez slapped on was in the form of fat, and it ended up slowing him down and making him even easier for Mayweather to beat. Mayweather says “It’s not cool to take punches.” That seems to be Mayweather’s motto when fighting, as he tries to avoid getting hit as much as possible. Most of the time, he’s good at avoiding punches from his opponents.

In the last handful of years, Mayweather has been bigger than almost all of his opponents, which has made it easier for him to avoid getting hit and hurt. Mosley will be the bigger fighter this Saturday night, and might have a small advantage in strength as well. Mosley is expected to lose to Mayweather, but anything can happen. Mosley has a way of surprising people who don’t believe in him.

Mayweather vs. Mosley: Will it mean anything in the end?

By Joseph “The Mad Boxing Genius” Torres: For years, Shane Mosley and Floyd Mayweather Jr. have danced around each other without actually setting foot in the ring. For years, the effort to match the two men were attempted but failed miserably. But if boxing has proven anything, it’s to never say never in this sport. Mike Tyson versus Evander Holyfield was eventually finalized despite cancellations and years of going in separate directions. Mike Tyson versus Lennox Lewis had their obstacles too but it got done. A Mosley/Mayweather fight did not prove any different.

Whether or not you believe the rumours that Mayweather has been ducking Mosley for years, after the Manny Pacquiao fallout earlier this year, Floyd was stuck between a rock and a hard place. He’s already been criticized for years for not fighting the best fighters the sport has to offer despite making claims of being the greatest of all time. What made Floyd’s situation even graver was his hard stance on random blood testing for illegal PED’s in the negotiations with the Pacquiao camp. There was backlash for both men but because of Floyd’s reputation, it appeared that he was taking the majority of the heat when fans started calling into questions Floyd’s intention to really fight Manny. With Manny taking the initiative by signing to fight Joshua Clottey after the mega-fight debacle, Mayweather was left without a dance partner. Enter Shane Mosley.

Regardless of how or why a Mayweather/Mosley fight was made for May 1st, the fight is finally going to happen.

On paper, this fight has the makings of a true classic. Both men are virtually the same in every way. Both have exceptional speed, skills and athleticism. Both are bonified Hall of Famers and are fighting in their best weight division of the 147lbs limit. There’s no catch weight, no one’s short on experience and to put it simply, there’s no excuse for this not to be one for the ages…accept one!

Boxing has always been the sport of kings because it pits one man against another man and the last one standing is the one who is stronger, tougher and simply better. Most fights at this level are designed to establish who the best truly is in the entire sport. However, there is an underlying issue that begs to question the legitimacy of this fight…Shane Mosley is a 38 year old veteran who hasn’t fought in 15 months!

As entertaining and competitive as this fight promises to be on paper, history shows when you have a fight that should have taken place years ago, you end up with a complete mismatch or a useless action fight. Take for example Mike Tyson versus Lennox Lewis. Had those two heavyweights fought years earlier, the fight would not only of been massive in terms of dollars and cents, but it would have been a bookmark for the sports’ legacy. Or more recently, the Bernard Hopkins /Roy Jones Jr. rematch where the only real excitement came when the final bell rang and the fans were spared more posturing than action.

Mosley has been accused of being over the hill more than once in his career. The most notable and recent time that there were signs that Sugar Shane wasn’t so sweet anymore was in his fight against Ricardo Mayorga. Shane was visibly having trouble in a very winnable fight. Some boxing experts, including this one, had Mayorga ahead going into the twelfth and final round. Luckily, Mosley being the warrior he is decked “El Matador” in twice forcing the referee to stop the fight in a last second knockout victory.

In his last fight against Antonio Margarito 15 months ago, he demolished a man who is considered to be the most avoided fighter in boxing at the time. Shane showed that he still had the stuff to knockout the usually very durable, world class Mexican. He tagged him often and ferociously en route to a 9th round stoppage. But I must reiterate that was 15 months ago.

If boxing matches at this level is supposed to establish clarity in determining who the best fighter is in real time, what happens if the all of these underlying issues start to play out?

Does over 15 months of inactivity put too much rust on Shane Mosley and hurt his performance?

Does Shane Mosley turn old overnight?

Although these underlying issues are what could possibly hamper the significance of this fight it’s also what makes it so intriguing. You have to wonder if Floyd wins under these circumstances, will he get the credit he craves? Does he even deserve it if he wins in this fashion? Will the fight to determine the best always lie with Mayweather versus Pacquiao? Or does Shane shock the world one more time?

One thing for sure is that regardless of all the negative factors that could make this mega-fight another dud, most boxing fans (and rightfully so), will bet their hard earned $50 plus on the PPV to find out!

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Mosley tells Mayweather, the fans decide who is great

By Chris Williams: Floyd Mayweather Jr. (40-0, 25 KO’s) recently said that he saw himself as better than Sugar Ray Robinson and Muhammad Ali – two of the greatest fighters in boxing – on a recent HBO Mayweather/Mosley 24/7 episode. Shane Mosley, who will be fighting Mayweather next Saturday on May 1st, had this to say about Mayweather’s comments:

“I think that it’s important that it’s not for you. It’s not for myself to tell everybody that I’m the greatest. You’re not just tooting your own horn and saying, ‘Oh, I’m the greatest. When the people start deciding that Sugar Ray Robinson is the greatest or Muhammad Ali, who is the greatest, it’s the people who have spoken. As a welterweight, he [Mayweather] hasn’t fought another top welterweight and I’m the first one that he’s fought that’s a world champion, so it makes the fight a big fight.”

Mayweather is certainly an extraordinary fighter and has won all his fights so far. However, Mayweather hasn’t fought enough big time fights for him to be considering himself as better than Ali and Robinson, in my view. Who knows? Mayweather might be a better fighter than both Robinson and Ali, but we can’t know that because he’s not been tested enough. It’s like having a Ferrari in your garage that you think will go 180 MPH. You won’t know that unless you actually the test the car. For all you know, it might come up way short of that or it could blow a rod when you attempt to take it that high.

Mayweather, unfortunately, hasn’t had enough quality fights in his career for me to consider him in the class of Ali and Robinson. Mayweather’s best opponents have been Jose Luis Castillo, Diego Corrales, Ricky Hatton, Oscar De La Hoya, Juan Manuel Marquez, Zab Judah, Carlos Hernandez, Arturo Gatti, Carlos Baldomir and Sharmba Mitchell. Those are all good fighters, but those aren’t kinds of guys that Mayweather needs to be put in the same category as Robinson and Ali.

Mayweather needs to keep fighting, beat Mosley next Saturday, and then take on Manny Pacquiao, Miguel Cotto, Antonio Margarito, Sergio Martinez, Timothy Bradley, Devon Alexander, and Andre Berto. If Mayweather sticks around and beats all those guys, he will have gone a long way towards proving himself as a great fighter. But I seriously doubt he will fight more than one or two of those fighters before retiring from the sport. This is why it’s hard for me to even consider putting Mayweather in the same class as Ali and Robinson.

Mayweather may feel that he has better ability than both Ali and Robinson, but he’s unproven. He hasn’t shown it in the ring. That’s the problem. Mayweather, if he wants to be considered by the fans to be better than Robinson and Ali – or even to be considered in the same class – he’s going to have to get busy and start beating some a lot of fighters in a hurry before he starts to fade and take losses.

Mayweather had previously said, “Yes, I’m better than Muhammad Ali. Yes, I’m better than Sugar Ray Robinson. I would never say there’s another fighter better than me.”

Mayweather: “I’m better than Muhammad Ali and “Sugar Ray Robinson”

By Jason Kim: Unbeaten Floyd Mayweather Jr. (40-0, 25 KO’s) was in fine form in HBO’s Mayweather/Mosley 24/7 episode 2, saying “I think I’m better than Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Robinson” at one point in the broadcast. I don’t know if Mayweather actually believes this or not, but if so, he’s got a lot of work to do to get to rack of the same accomplishments as those two fighters. Robison finished his career with a record of 173-196, 108 KOs, and at one point in his career had a record of 128-1. That’s an incredible record, and I can’t imagine Mayweather ever coming close to equalizing such an accomplishment.

Mayweather would have to fight all the time and beat the top guys over and over again without stop. I don’t think Mayweather would have be able to take the punishment of fighting often and would likely start taking losses at some point long before he even gets near 100. I liked to see Mayweather accomplish what Robinson and Ali did in their careers, but I see Mayweather as a difference kind of fighter.

He’s more of a businessman than a true sportsman like Ali and Robinson. Those two fighters always were looking to fight the best guys that they possibly could. I may be wrong, but I can’t see either Ali or Robinson asking for one of their opponents to take a random blood test. I think both of them would fight anyone no matter what the circumstances where. That seemed to be their personality.

Mayweather says “No one has a chance to beat me.” On May 1st, Shane Mosley is going to try to be the first fighter to accomplish that. Mayweather hasn’t taken on a really dangerous opponent in some time, beating the smaller Juan Manuel Marquez and Ricky Hatton in his last two fights. Before that, it was an older Oscar De La Hoya. Mosley may be getting up there in age at 38, but he’s still easily the best opponent that Mayweather has faced in many years dating back to 2002 when Mayweather beat a prime Jose Luis Castillo in 2002.

On top of that, Mayweather has fought only once in the past three years, beating Marquez last year in September. That’s a lot of time away from the ring and his fight against Marquez, who is a great fighter, really wasn’t all that competitive due to the size advantage that Mayweather had in the fight.

Mosley’s WBA belt won’t be on the line for Mayweather bout

By Eric Thomas: According to the latest boxing news, WBA welterweight champion Shane Mosley won’t have his World Boxing Association strap on the line for his May 1st bout against unbeaten Floyd Mayweather Jr. at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada. The reason is because the 33-year-old Mayweather reportedly didn’t want to pay the sanctioning fees for the belt. You can hardly blame Mayweather for not wanting to do that, because even if he wins the title, he likely won’t bother defending it against the top contenders that the WBA has lined up for him nor is Mayweather the type of fighter that likes to collect titles and brag about them as a status symbol.

It would have been a wasted $100,000 or so for Mayweather if he had gone ahead and paid the sanctioning fee for a title that he didn’t care about in the first place. The important thing when you get as popular as Mayweather is right now is fighting the top fighters in different divisions. Alphabet titles are virtually meaningless when a fighter has built up an impressive resume and a large fan base.

So if Mayweather beats Mosley on May 1st, Mosley’s WBA title will become vacant instead of going to Mayweather, and if Mosley beats Mayweather, Shane will keep his WBA title. The interesting part is that if Mosley ends up getting beaten by Mayweather, he will likely be the one fighting for the vacant WBA title in his next fight, if he still desires the strap for some reason. Mosley would probably be better off forgetting about it and trying to go after WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto instead for a good money fight. That would be far more interesting than facing one of the WBA contenders for the title.

Mayweather-Mosley: Will Floyd throw enough punches to win?

By Chris Williams: Floyd Mayweather Jr. (40-0, 25 KO’s) isn’t known for having a high work rate, but on May 1st, he’s going to have to find a way to throw more punches than he normally does if he wants to beat World Boxing Association welterweight champion Shane Mosley (46-1, 39 KO’s). Mayweather, 33, will be facing a steady withering fire all night long from the 38-year-old Mosley, and unless Mayweather is able to match his punch volume, Mayweather could end up losing and being the one who looks 38.

Mayweather has been able to win his fights on the cheap in his last four fights, beating opponents that couldn’t catch up to him long enough to land more than a punch or two. Mayweather, with his movement, is able to punch and move to keep out of the way of his opponents. The movement is good, but it’s made Mayweather more reliant on his legs rather than his offense.

This puts Mayweather in danger when facing a fast fighter like Mosley, who throws a lot if punches and who has the strength and power advantage over Mayweather. Mosley is going to be going after Mayweather and really letting his hands go with a lot of punches. Mosley has noted that Mayweather doesn’t throw a lot of punches and can be out-punched if his opponent can stay on top of him. Mosley, though, can’t just stand in front of Mayweather.

That would lead to Mosley taking some pinpoint shots. Mosley has to instead use angles and attack Mayweather hard when in close. It’s not going to easy. Mayweather showed in his fight with Ricky Hatton that he can fight really well in close with short punches. However, Mayweather is there to be hit if Mosley can get near enough. Forget the shoulder roll garbage. Mayweather is going to look silly if he does that bit against Mosley.

He needs to leave that for his slower, more limited opponents that can’t fight. Mosley probably has no chance of beating Mayweather if he makes the mistake of trying to box him. Mayweather is too clever and fast to be beaten by boxing him. The only way that Mosley can beat him is by turning the fight into a war, throw a lot of punches and try to rough Mayweather up on the inside. Even that might not work, but it’s really the only chance that Mosley has.

Mosley needs to throw punches and try overwhelm Mayweather’s defense. If Mayweather is too busy covering up and messing with his shoulder roll, he won’t be able to throw his pinpoint shots and will fall behind in the fight. If Mayweather gets behind in the fight, he doesn’t have the power to score a knockout. He’ll end up losing the fight because of his inability to come back and stop Mosley.

Another thing that Mosley should consider trying is his punch and hold technique. It worked wonders his fight with Antonio Margarito last year in January, and kept Margarito from throwing his own punches. Mosley might just be able to smother Mayweather’s offense if he hugs him all night long. It will be boring to watch, to be sure, but it might work in shutting Mayweather down.

Will Mayweather fight a rematch with Mosley rather than face Pacquiao?

By Eric Thomas: Floyd Mayweather Jr. is going to be getting a big payday against Shane Mosley in their May 1st bout, no matter what happens in the fight. There’s a rematch clause built into the contract in the event that Mayweather loses the fight, Mosley will have to give him an immediate rematch rather than moving on to a mega fight against Manny Pacquiao. Now Mayweather is talking about perhaps fighting a rematch with Mosley even if he beats him.

So instead of Mayweather moving on and trying to line up a fight with Pacquiao, he’s talking about fighting another big money fight against Mosley. Pacquiao would then have to wait a six months to a year before Mayweather would be free to fight him, provided that he beats Mosley for a second time. Mayweather says he only fights once a year, so it’s likely that Pacquiao would have to cool his jets for at least a year before he’d be able to fight Mayweather.

That might be asking a lot of Pacquiao since there really isn’t too many opponents out there in the welterweight division for him to fight other than Andre Berto. Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum would like to match Pacquiao with fellow Top Rank fighter Antonio Margarito, but that’s a fight that might never happen if Margarito doesn’t get his boxing license back.

Would Pacquiao be willing to wait around for a year or maybe more for Mayweather if there’s no one interesting for him to fight? Pacquiao is talking retirement now, and has serious political ambitions as well. It would seem that Mayweather is assuming a lot by making Pacquiao wait around for such a long time.

On one hand, Pacquiao might retire and move on. And you never know whether the boxing public will still be interested in seeing Pacquiao-Mayweather a year or more from now. Mayweather could really stink up the joint in two fights against Mosley and Pacquiao might look equally bad against someone as well. And there’s always the chance that both Mayweather and Pacquiao could get beat. It’s highly unlikely with their talent, but it’s possible. Both of them are over 30, and anything can happen once you start getting up there in age.

Mayweather vs Mosley 24/7 Episode 1

HBO Sports’ groundbreaking “24/7” reality franchise returns for its eighth boxing installment with the four-episode, all-access series 24/7 MAYWEATHER/MOSLEY. Debuting SATURDAY, APRIL 10 (10:00-10:30 p.m. ET/7:00-7:30 p.m. PT), the show follows two of boxing’s top performers – Floyd Mayweather and Shane Mosley – as they prepare for their May 1 welterweight pay-per-view showdown at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Episode # 1

Debut: SATURDAY, APRIL 10 (10:00-10:30 p.m. ET/7:00-7:30 p.m. PT)

Other HBO playdates: April 10 (12:45 a.m. ET only/9:45 p.m. PT only), 11 (10:15 a.m.), 12 (10:30 a.m., 7:30 p.m., 12:35 a.m.), 13 (2:00 p.m.), 15 (9:00 p.m., midnight), 16 (2:05 a.m.), 17 (11:30 a.m.), 24 (7:30 p.m.), 28 (1:00 a.m.) and 30 (7:00 p.m.), and May 1 (9:30 a.m.)

HBO2 playdates: April 11 (11:00 p.m.), 13 (9:30 p.m.) and 30 (1:00 a.m.), and May 1 (4:00 p.m.)

HBO On Demand availability begins: April 12



Following their raucous press tour, the future Hall of Famers open training camp. Floyd Mayweather (40-0, 25 KOs) returns home to the familiar confines of Las Vegas and the Mayweather Boxing Gym, while Shane Mosley (46-5, 39 KOs) heads to camp in the mountains of Big Bear, Cal.

Episodes two and three of 24/7 MAYWEATHER/MOSLEY debut on subsequent Saturdays – April 17 (9:30-10:00 p.m. ET/6:30-7:00 p.m. PT) and 24 (8:30-9:00 p.m.) – while the finale debuts Friday, April 30 (8:30-9:00 p.m.), just one night before the super showdown. All four episodes will have multiple replay dates on HBO, and the series will also be available on HBO On Demand.

On Saturday, May 1 at 9:00 p.m. (ET)/6:00 p.m. (PT), HBO Pay-Per-View presents “Mayweather vs. Mosley,” live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

The 24/7 boxing franchise recently received six Sports Emmy® nominations for the 2009 programming year, including Outstanding Edited Sports Special for the series “24/7 Mayweather/Marquez.” Winners will be announced April 26.

The executive producers of 24/7 MAYWEATHER/MOSLEY are Ross Greenburg and Rick Bernstein; senior producer, Dave Harmon; coordinating producer, Scott Boggins; producers, Jon Crystal and Bentley Weiner; writer, Aaron Cohen. Liev Schreiber narrates.

Mayweather vs. Mosley: Is this as good as it gets for Floyd?

By Jason Kim: For Floyd Mayweather Jr. his fight against Shane Mosley next month on May 1st might just well be the pinnacle of his career. It’s sad to say, but I think this could be the final really large mega fight of Mayweather’s career. He’s not likely to face Manny Pacquiao in the near future or every because of Mayweather’s demands that Pacquiao take the Olympic style random blood tests, which Pacquiao is totally against and not likely to give into to satisfy Mayweather.

Without a fight against Pacquiao taking place, there really isn’t anyone else with a big enough name to make a huge fight with Mayweather. Heck, it took Mayweather 14 years of his career before he finally faced Mosley. Mayweather probably won’t be taking on any other dangerous fighter like Mosley for the remainder of his career. There really isn’t any big names in the welterweight other than Mayweather, Mosley and Pacquiao.

Andre Berto, the WBC welterweight champion, isn’t hugely popular and has looked flawed vulnerable since capturing the WBC title. It’s doubtful that Berto will rise up become a mega star in the future, and he’ll likely get beaten in his next bout with Carlos Quintana anyway. It’s too bad that the Mosley fight could be the last huge fight of Mayweather’s career.

At 33, Mayweather is starting to look noticeably older, and you can imagine he’s probably going to start slowing down in the next couple of years. Usually, fighters start to show signs of deterioration of their reflexes by the time they hit 35. Mosley, 38, is kind of a different case in that he wasn’t just blinding fast, but also a very tough fighter who didn’t mind going to war with his opponents.

Mosley has had that part of his game to fall back on as he’s started to lose some of his hand speed in the past few years. Mayweather may not have that advantage when he reaches 35, if he’s still fighting by then. I expect Mayweather’s hand speed and youth to be the deciding factor in his fight with Mosley, but it’s not going to be easy because Mosley is going to take the fight to him and make Mayweather work hard to get the win.

I wish I could say that Mayweather will give in about the drug testing and seek out a fight with Pacquiao in the future, but I don’t see that happening. I expect Mayweather to stick to his demands about the drug testing. The Mosley fight then could be the zenith of Mayweather’s career. From here, I expect everything to go downhill for Floyd with him going back to taking on smaller fighters like he’s been doing the past couple of years.

I hope Mayweather doesn’t back to hand picking opponents from the lower weight classes, but that’s what I see happening. And if Pacquiao retires, there won’t be any pressure put on Mayweather for him to take on the best fighters. We could then be seeing Mayweather extend his career in one mismatch after another in dull fighters.

Mosley to force Mayweather to engage

By Jim Dower: World Boxing Association welterweight champion Shane Mosley (46-5, 39 KO’s) plans on making unbeaten Floyd Mayweather Jr. (40-0, 25 KO’s) fight him in their upcoming May 1st bout at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Mosley, 38, says in article at Boxing Fanhouse, “Style-wise, Floyd doesn’t really like to engage in a fight until he’s ready to engages. He has to be forced to engage in a real fight…Other fighters will try to engage and try to knock you out early and really fight you, where Floyd kind of boxes around, moves, touches, taps.” Mosley has to find a way to get Mayweather out of his comfort zone, because few of his opponents have done a good job of pressuring him during his career with the exception of Jose Luis Castillo in their first fight eight years ago in April 2002.

Castillo was able to pressure Mayweather effectively, but no one since then. Mayweather has gotten better at dealing with fighters that come right at him and punishes them with straight right hands and left hooks. Ricky Hatton, Arturo Gatti and Carlos Baldomir went right at Mayweather and paid a huge price by getting chopped up and beaten down. Mosley is going to have to have an alternative plan to use against Mayweather, because pressuring might not prove to be an effective plan.

Mosley used a smothering attack in his last fight against WBA welterweight champion Antonio Margarito last year in January. The smothering worked in part because of Margarito’s poor hand speed. Mosley was able to punch and immediately clinch Margarito to keep him from getting off with his own shots. Mosley could have limited success using this approach with Mayweather. The one problem with that is Mayweather is blinding fast, and if Mosley reaches in to clinch Mayweather, he could find himself getting nailed with straight rights and short left hooks as he moves in.

Mosley says “Floyd is the type of fighter who, if he doesn’t feel comfortable or confident, he’s not going to fight you. So I have to be ready for that type of mentality that he has of touching and moving, touching and moving.” Mosley probably doesn’t have much of a chance at beating Mayweather if Floyd keeps on the outside and moves all night long.

Shane is a much better at fighting stationary fighters like Margarito and in some respects, Oscar De La Hoya. Neither of those guys moves a lot, and Mosley was able to be the one to dictate when and where he wanted to fight. This won’t be the case with Mayweather, who won’t be staying still for Mosley and who will keep the lateral movement up all fight long. Mosley will have to chase Mayweather and be quick to land shots while he has the opportunity.

Mayweather can’t be beaten by pressure alone. Mosley has to be smart and use a variety of different approaches for this fight if he wants to be successful. Mayweather isn’t likely going to be trying to get in any long exchanges with Mosley, so he needs to understand that. Mayweather is going to do what he did in his last fight against Juan Manuel Marquez by landing mostly single shots as Mosley comes forward, and take advantage of his mistakes. Mayweather won’t likely initiate much of the action on his own. It’s going to have to be Mosley that makes things happen.

Mosley has already been tested for drugs five times – News

By Eric Thomas: World Boxing Association welterweight champion Shane Mosley has already been tested five times for drugs, according to Boxing Fanhouse. Mosley, 38, isn’t bothered at all by the blood tests for the urinalysis, and sees it as a good thing. Both Mosley and Floyd Mayweather Jr. have agreed to the United States Anti-Doping Agency testing protocols for their May 1st bout at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Mosley says “I could see how fighters would not like this…But at the same time, I kind of like it. It’s truly a good thing. I think that it’s great for the sport.”

The tests for steroids and human growth hormone will continue to be randomly conducted for both fighters up until their fight next month on May 1st. One would hope that the Olympic style drug tests that Mayweather and Mosley are using for their fight be adopted by the Nevada and New York Athletic Commissions so that more rigorous testing will be done for boxers. As of now, only urine is checked. The problem that might prevent the blood testing to be implemented by the two commissions is the cost. It would likely cost more money for fighters to be randomly tested rather than having them take the usual urinalysis.

Mayweather, 32, is really big on the drug testing and is the one that insisted that the extra drug testing be done for this fight. Mayweather plans on having all his opponents tested from now on to ensure that they’re clean. Mayweather’s bout with Manny Pacquiao fell apart over the random blood testing that Mayweather wanted. Pacquiao, who feels that having his blood tested weakens him, agreed in part to the random blood testing but wanted it to be discontinued 24 days before the fight. Mayweather, however, wanted Pacquiao to be tested up until two weeks before the fight.

When Mayweather didn’t agree to the 24 days offered, Pacquiao and his team moved on and selected another opponent, Joshua Clottey to fight instead. Pacquiao, his trainer Freddie Roach, and Top Rank promoter Bob Arum would like to meet Mayweather for a mega fight. It might not be possible, though, if Mayweather wants the Olympic style blood tests to be used for the fight. Mayweather hasn’t said anything about letting the drug testing issue slide for any of his future fights. He appears to be firm on wanting them for his opponents from now on.

Mayweather Mosley 24/7 on Saturday

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HBO Sports’ groundbreaking “24/7” reality franchise returns for its eighth boxing installment with the four-episode, all-access series 24/7 MAYWEATHER/MOSLEY. Debuting SATURDAY, APRIL 10 (10:00-10:30 p.m. ET/7:00-7:30 p.m. PT), the show follows two of boxing’s top performers – Floyd Mayweather and Shane Mosley – as they prepare for their May 1 welterweight pay-per-view showdown at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Episode # 1

Debut: SATURDAY, APRIL 10 (10:00-10:30 p.m. ET/7:00-7:30 p.m. PT)

Other HBO playdates: April 10 (12:45 a.m. ET only/9:45 p.m. PT only), 11 (10:15 a.m.), 12 (10:30 a.m., 7:30 p.m., 12:35 a.m.), 13 (2:00 p.m.), 15 (9:00 p.m., midnight), 16 (2:05 a.m.), 17 (11:30 a.m.), 24 (7:30 p.m.), 28 (1:00 a.m.) and 30 (7:00 p.m.), and May 1 (9:30 a.m.)

HBO2 playdates: April 11 (11:00 p.m.), 13 (9:30 p.m.) and 30 (1:00 a.m.), and May 1 (4:00 p.m.)

HBO On Demand availability begins: April 12

Following their raucous press tour, the future Hall of Famers open training camp. Floyd Mayweather (40-0, 25 KOs) returns home to the familiar confines of Las Vegas and the Mayweather Boxing Gym, while Shane Mosley (46-5, 39 KOs) heads to camp in the mountains of Big Bear, Cal.

Episodes two and three of 24/7 MAYWEATHER/MOSLEY debut on subsequent Saturdays – April 17 (9:30-10:00 p.m. ET/6:30-7:00 p.m. PT) and 24 (8:30-9:00 p.m.) – while the finale debuts Friday, April 30 (8:30-9:00 p.m.), just one night before the super showdown. All four episodes will have multiple replay dates on HBO, and the series will also be available on HBO On Demand.

On Saturday, May 1 at 9:00 p.m. (ET)/6:00 p.m. (PT), HBO Pay-Per-View presents “Mayweather vs. Mosley,” live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

The 24/7 boxing franchise recently received six Sports Emmy® nominations for the 2009 programming year, including Outstanding Edited Sports Special for the series “24/7 Mayweather/Marquez.” Winners will be announced April 26.

The executive producers of 24/7 MAYWEATHER/MOSLEY are Ross Greenburg and Rick Bernstein; senior producer, Dave Harmon; coordinating producer, Scott Boggins; producers, Jon Crystal and Bentley Weiner; writer, Aaron Cohen. Liev Schreiber narrates.

Mayweather Jr. tells Mosley “You’re going to have to earn my respect”

By Esteban Garduno: Unbeaten Floyd Mayweather Jr. (40-0, 25 KO’s) had some stern words for Shane Mosley (46-5, 39 KO’s) in their sit down interview with HBO analyst Max Kellerman recently, saying “Come May 1st, he’s [Mosley] going to have to make me respect his skills.” Mosley and Mayweather will be fighting on May 1st at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada. This is a fight that could break the previous pay-per-view record set by Mayweather and Oscar De La Hoya in 2007 when their fight registered over 2 million PPV buys. Richard Schaefer, the CEO for Golden Boy Promotions, predicts that Mayweather-Mosley will bring in over 3 million PPV buys.

He could be right but even if he’s off by small amount, it won’t matter. This fight is likely to be one of the biggest fights in PPV history because it matches two of the most talented fighters in boxing. Mayweather hasn’t been really tested since his close 12 round split decision win over De La Hoya three years ago. Mosley, 38, could be the one to take Mayweather’s ‘0’ away from him and hand him his first loss.

The one that thing that Mosley has going for him is his age. At 38, he’s getting up there in age, and we could see the effects of his age shown against Mayweather. To add to that, Mosley hasn’t fought in over a year since beating Antonio Margarito by a 9th round stoppage last year. Mosley says that it won’t be an issue for him, but you have to wonder whether the ring rust will be there for him in this fight. Mayweather isn’t the type of fighter you want to fight with any kind of ring rust weighing you down.

As for the rest of the interview with Kellerman, Mayweather repeated all his standard lines that he uses in all of his interviews, saying “40 have tried and 40 have failed…etc.” There really wasn’t any new and interesting things that Mayweather said that was any different than what he’s been saying over and over again without stop for the past month. One thing that Mayweather did say was when he gave Mosley credit for beating Margarito, saying “I’m happy for him. He’s a black American, and I’m a black American.”

The rest of it was the boring stuff like “There’s no blueprint on how to beat me.” Mayweather needs to have someone come up with material for him to say before different interviews, because he repeats himself far too much for a talented fighter like him. Comedian Bob Hope had a joke writer that would write material for him every time he would go out in public for an event. If he knew he had to talk even a little, Hope was ready with new things to say. Mayweather says the same thing in every interview. I’m surprised he can’t come up with new stuff on his own.

If Mayweather wins this fight, he’ll have a chance in theory to fight Manny Pacquiao. I don’t for a second believe that Pacquiao will ever face Mayweather, even if he agrees to drop his request for random blood testing. I think Pacquiao will look in another direction rather than take on Mayweather.

Mayweather's signature seals the deal to face Mosley May 1 in Mega Fight

*NOTE: FIGHTERS AGREE TO PARTICIPATE IN OLYMPIC-STYLE DRUG TESTING

LAS VEGAS (February 3, 2010) - It's official. Boxing's biggest superstar and six-time world champion Floyd "Money" Mayweather made his upcoming fight with welterweight mega-star and five-time world champion Sugar Shane Mosley, official today when he signed the contract that pits the two fighters against each other on Saturday, May 1 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas in a mega-bout which will be televised live on HBO Pay-Per-View®.

"This one is definitely for the fans as I wasn't going to waste anyone's time with a meaningless tune-up bout and asked to fight Shane immediately," said Mayweather. "I have said ever since I came back to the sport that I only wanted to fight the best. I think Shane is one of the best, but come May 1, he still won't be great enough to beat me."

"I have always wanted to fight Floyd and now it is finally coming true," said Mosley, who signed his side of the deal last Friday in Las Vegas. "I am already in great shape and ready to show everyone on May 1 that I am stronger, faster and better than he is. I will have no problem beating him."


In addition to the fight being one of the most competitive and talked about contests in each of the fighters' careers, Mayweather and Mosley have agreed to Olympic-style drug testing for the fight.

"Floyd has been trying to make this fight for the last 10 years, so he is extremely excited about the opportunity to face Shane," said Leonard Ellerbe, CEO, Mayweather Promotions. "He can't wait to extend his undefeated record and perform at the highest level. More importantly, he is also happy to set the precedent for random blood testing in order to ensure fair and safe contests for all fighters."

"When two champions of this caliber meet in the ring, you can expect nothing but excellence and that is what we are going to see on May 1," said Richard Schaefer, CEO, Golden Boy Promotions. "Shane Mosley is one of the greatest fighters of this era and I commend him for not only agreeing to the fight against Mayweather, but also agreeing to participate in a testing process that can only help the integrity of the sport."

"Mayweather-Mosley is a showdown of superstars that fans have been talking about for years", said Mark Taffet of HBO Pay-Per-View. "It has all the elements of a pay-per-view mega-fight."



A 1996 Olympic Bronze medalist for the United States, Floyd Mayweather (40-0, 25 KO's) has since gone on to strike Gold in the professional ranks, winning six world titles in five weight classes to firmly establish himself as one of the most elite fighters of his era. With dominating wins over the likes of world champions Diego Corrales, Jose Luis Castillo, Arturo Gatti, Zab Judah, Oscar de la Hoya and Ricky Hatton, Mayweather was on a meteoric rise to hall of fame greatness when he announced his retirement from the ring in 2008. But he left the door open for a return if the right challenge presented itself and after 18 months of a much needed physical and emotional break from the ring, he returned to boxing on September 19, 2009 with a dominating and spectacular victory over future Hall of Famer Juan Manuel Marquez.

A future Hall of Famer with five world titles to his name, Shane Mosley (46-5, 39 KO's) has ruled the lightweight, welterweight and junior middleweight divisions over his storied 16-year career and at 38 years old, the Pomona, Calif. native seems to be getting better and better as the years pass. Winner of seven of his last eight fights dating back to 2005, Mosley has defeated the likes of Fernando Vargas (twice), Luis Collazo and Ricardo Mayorga, but his most recent victory also was one of his most spectacular -- a ninth round stoppage of Antonio Margarito in January 2009 to win the welterweight world title for the third time.

Mayweather-Mosley: Shane signs contract for May 1st bout

By Eric Thomas: The mega fight between unbeaten Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Shane Mosley is on for May 1st, at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Yahoo Sports news writer Kevin Iole is reporting that Shane Mosley has signed the contract for the fight against Mayweather on May 1st. Mosley, 38, took a flight to Las Vegas, according to Iole, and signed the contract for the fight. Once Mayweather signs the contract, a news conference is expected shortly to officially give the announcement for the Mayweather-Mosley fight. Mayweather, 32, was looking to fight World Boxing Organization welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao on March 13th, at the Dallas Cowboy stadium, in Arlington, Texas.

That Mayweather-Pacquiao fight was unable to be negotiated because Mayweather wanted Olympic style random blood tests to be taken in the weeks leading up to the fight. Pacquiao wasn’t comfortable with the blood testing because of his belief that it weakened him. However, Pacquiao did eventually agree to take the blood tests, but didn’t want to take any inside of 24 days before the fight. Mayweather wanted the random blood testing to stop at 14 days before the fight.

Should Mayweather get by Mosley on May 1st, Mayweather and Pacquiao may need to revisit the random blood testing issue if they want to negotiate for a huge mega fight in the future. If Mayweather drops the idea of blood testing, it shouldn’t be too hard to put together a fight with Pacquiao. However, it’s unlikely that Mayweather will want to back off his desire to have the random blood testing take place for a fight against Pacquiao. Mosley reportedly has no issues with taking the random blood tests for his fight against Mayweather.