By Dave “Large” Larzelere

The biggest newsmaker in the boxing world last night was obviously the man of the hour, Floyd Mayweather. But the unlikely runner-up to that title was Shane Mosley, who got pulled into a post-fight argument with Floyd by Max Kellerman that ended up being a much more competitive contest than the fight that preceded it.

I admit that for my part, I tended to agree with Floyd that the timing of the whole thing was wrong, that he doesn’t jump in the ring after Mosley has a big win, or Bernard, so why don’t they let him have his moment and talk the trash in some other forum? After the post-fight presser, I asked Floyd if he felt like the whole thing with Kellerman and Mosley felt like a little bit of a set-up. He said, “No, you know what man… I don’t wanna say nothing bad about Shane Mosley, and I don’t want to say nothing bad about Max Kellerman. It’s just my night and I just want repsect. That’s all I ask for.”

Floyd was startlingly classy in the post-fight presser, quite in keeping with the Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde persona. The dude is always humble and muted in victory. And last night, I have to admit, the roomful of assembled press felt to me like a pack of tawdry jackals trying to get their teeth into a lion. The lion, though, was having none of it, just kept his head up like the King of the Jungle does, dusted his lion shoulders off (do lions have shoulders?) and moved on. I tell you, I am fascinated by Floyd Mayweather. Pacquiao may be the people’s champ, but Floyd is the most interesting figure in the sport by a mile.

All that said, Mosley picked a pretty good time to step into Floyd’s spotlight, and if the whole thing with Kellerman was a set-up (Shane insists it wasn’t, that he had no idea it would happen), then it was well-staged. Already, one can see on the internet a second-guessing among hardcore boxing fans as to just how necessary a Mayweather/Pacquiao fight really is. There are two arguments, of course, and myself, I don’t know which side of the line I fall on right now. The one says that Pacquiao is infinitely more equipped to move up in weight against a talent like Mayweather than Marquez is, and that it would be a terrific fight. The other says that… well, it says take a good look at that fight last night, take a good look at what Floyd did to a man who we all esteem to have been Pacquiao’s equal in the ring, and ask yourself how on earth could Pacquiao expect to be competitive where Marquez completely and utterly could not?

Throw in the fact that the negotiating battle lines for that fight are so staunch, that there is a gap between the self-assessments of both sides so vast that one wonders if the fight ever will get made, and then add to that the fact that Pacquiao still has a VERY tough assignment ahead of him in November in Miguel Cotto, and we start to move into a realm where what had seemed a command performance starts to feel ever so slightly less imperative.

And then… there is Mosley. Maybe Cotto will be in the equation as well, but only if he beats Pacquiao. Basically, after November 14th, there will be two fighters left standing as viable opponents for Mayweather next year - the winner of the Pacquiao/Cotto fight, and Mosley. It’s no wonder that Mosley is making such a strong case for himself in a limelight-stealing display that felt a little unlike his bedrock personality, which always has seemed to me to be essentially mild and retiring (when not in the boxing ring, of course).

After last night’s press conference, in which Floyd was generally complimentary towards Mosley without making any statements whatsoever about whether he would or would not deign to fight him in the future, Mosley stood on the stage of a while and effectively ranted and raved to a group of reporters, me among them. I disagreed with Shane on a few counts and asked him a few contentious questions, and let me tell you something - the man got in my face a little bit. What we were seeing last night from him was not an act, in my estimation, not by a longshot. He wants a Mayweather fight with the desperation of a man who still feels like he’s at the top of his game, but who knows that time is not on his side, and who is forced to watch and wait in the meantime with a gut-wrenching sense that the sport he was once ruled is quickly passing him by, and that he may never again get his just opportunity to prove his greatness in the ring against these two fighters who are now deemed to be the best pound-for-pound best in the world, and against history, where he genuinely yearns to etch his name for all time.

He made a convincing case. Like I said, if he was acting… he’s a hell of an actor. Here’s Mosley in his own words from after the Mayweather/Marquez presser:

On the incident in the ring with Kellerman and Floyd:
“Max Kellerman called me over and said there’s another guy in your division, Shane Mosley. And I just went over there and said, well, this is true, I’m the real welterweight champion, so let’s get this on. The fans want to see the best fighters fight.”

“I’m just in the ring as a promoter, and I didn’t say nothing, didn’t say nothing at the press conference. I let him speak. I didn’t say anything.”

“I had no idea that was going to happen. It just happened that way. Max Kellerman called me over and I been wanting to say this, I been saying it forever but no one’s been writing it. But now the world got a chance to see it, so you guys have to write it. You have to.”

On the Mayweather/Marquez fight:
“Mayweather chose Marquez. There were two options out there for him, Mosley or Marquez. Which one do you want? I want Marquez. Why? You tell me.”

“I just wasn’t impressed with the whole fight. If you noticed, I wasn’t at any of the weigh-ins or events. I just didn’t agree with this fight. Marquez is a great fighter, he’s a world-class fighter, heart, courage, everything. But it’s just not the right fight.”

ME: “Did you not agree with Oscar/Pacquiao?”
SHANE: “Did I not agree with Oscar/Pacquiao?”
ME: “Well, you say you don’t agree with Mayweather/Marquez, so did you not agree with Oscar/Pacquiao?”
SHANE “Not really. I really didn’t pay attention to it. But Pacquiao’s the guy who wanted Oscar. Mayweather chose Marquez.”
ME: “Marquez called him out.”
SHANE: “Yeah, he called him out, but… I called him out too.”
ME: “So you don’t think Floyd has a point at all when he says that it’s okay if Oscar fights Pacquiao, but when I fight Marquez it’s a complete joke.”
SHANE: “No it’s okay, it’s okay for him to fight Marquez. But when you have two guys calling you out, you have the welterweight champion and the lightweight champion calling you out and you go on ESPN and you say, oh I want to go steal some money, and then you writers agree with this and let this happen, well, yeah, I have a problem with that.”

On fighting Mayweather:
“I’m hoping that the best will fight the best. That’s what the sport of boxing needs. I’m the number one welterweight champion right now. Nobody can dispute that. I’m the type who wants to fight everybody. I’m tired of people thinking Floyd’s the best, or Pacquiao’s the best.

“Floyd has a big ego. If you want to be the best, if you want to be considered the best, you can’t just say, oh I’m the best and have the crowd say oh yeah sure Floyd you’re the best. You have to get in there and prove it. He knows that, he knows it in his heart, that he has to come in the ring and fight me to be the best. Now when he actually does that, that’s the difference. Maybe he’s trying to wait until I’m 40 years old, I don’t know.”

“There’s enough money in the pot for everybody to make this fight. I want the fans to know who the real champion is. I’m the real champion. I’m the pound-for-pound best.”

“We’d match equally in speed. I have more power than him. I’m more aggressive, I want to fight, he wants to box a little more. He can definitely fight, he’s a great fighter. I like his style, I like what he does. He’s very sharp, fast, he has all the abilities. It’s the making of the next Sugar Ray Leonard/Tommy Hearns type of fight. This is the type of fight this is. This is what the fans, what the world wants to see. This is the fight that will save boxing.”

“My fight is not finalized with Berto. I like Berto and I would definitely fight him regardless. But if this big fight takes place, if Floyd says yes he wants to fight me, then I’m gonna fight Mayweather. And then I’ll turn around and fight Berto after that. And I’ll fight Joshua Clottey after that. And I’ll fight Cotto after that. I will continue to fight all the fighters until y’all know beyond the shadow or a doubt that I’m the best fighter in this era.”

On people ducking him:
“I feel great. At 38 years old, I feel great. And people are afraid of me. People know that I can fight. I have hitting power. I have the type of stuff to beat these guys and they know it.”

“People still want to avoid me. And if the reporters let this happen, maybe Floyd will go ahead and avoid me again and fight Pacquiao, who is smaller than him too.”

“When I was doing my thing, I fought the Vernon Forrests, I fought the Winky Wrights, I fought all the people I shouldn’t even have fought. I could have danced around and fought anybody. But I don’t have no regrets. I’m happy that it happened.”

“I give Margarito a lot of credit, because he got in the ring and fought me. And he didn’t have to fight me. But he fought me. And he fought like a warrior, he fought to the end. He got knocked out but he fought to the end. I give him a lot of credit for that. He’s a throwback fighter.”

On whether his long layoff is affecting him negatively:
“No. It just makes me angrier, gets me more upset, makes me train harder. You see me right now. I’m ready to go. All these guys are doing are just buying time for me to get better and better and better.”

“I’m happy with Mayweather making all his money. When Oscar was making all his money, I was happy for him. That’s fine with me. But my goal since I was eight, ten years old, was to be the best in this era. I watched Sugar Ray Leonard, Muhammad Ali. This is my era and I want people to know that. And that’s why I’m not going nowhere. I’m not gonna retire, I’m not going anywhere until y’all know who the best is. And y’all SAY it. Pound for pound again. I’m not going nowhere.”

“Everybody want to talk about the money thing. It’s never a money thing with me when I get in there and fight these guys. It’s never been a money issue with me. I don’t fight for money. I mean, I want money, for my kids and everything. I like money. But that’s not the main engine that drives me. From day one. I was doing my thing, I was 23-0 with 22 knockouts and barely made $7,000 for my fight until I fought for a world title, and I did fight for a world title I made $45,000. So yeah, I am willing to wait to have my moment to shine, to be the best and to be considered the best. Money comes with that. Money comes along with it.” read more