Jim Watt fears age might derail Shane Mosley's bid to end Floyd Mayweather's unbeaten record.
Age and a master of his art against Mosley, says Jim
Shane Mosley is certainly the quickest boxer Floyd Mayweather has met. He's probably the best boxer he has met. In fact he is probably the closest thing to Mayweather the man himself will actually face.
That is why plenty of people out there believe we could be in for an upset at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas in the early hours of Sunday morning. But it is not as straightforward as that. Yes, all that is true of Shane Mosley, but there is more to take into consideration.
For a start he is 38. He also blows hot and cold - he looked sensational against Antonio Margarito last time out, but terrible against Ricardo Mayorga before that. Yes, he produced that last-second knockout but I had him behind by a couple of points and even his own body language suggested he thought he was losing. So that inconsistency in his recent performances could work against him.
And if you look at the two fighters that have beaten Mosley twice each - when he was at his peak, not 38 by the way - both are decent boxers. Vernon Forrest and Winky Wright are good technicians and hard to fathom, but you have to say neither comes close to Mayweather.
Even when Shane beat Oscar de la Hoya in their second fight most people, including his father Jack, thought he had lost. Yes, he was outstanding in the first fight, but that second performance plus those defeats suggest he does struggle with guys who like to box, rather than fight.
In Floyd Mayweather he is facing a man who is 33 and even after his time out, at his peak. Look back at his comeback fight with Juan Manuel Marquez; ok, there was no way the Mexican had the size or style to really beat Floyd, but the fact that he was utterly dominated and couldn't even make an impression, shows what a special talent Mayweather is.
Respect
It all looks like a tall order for Mosley, but there are plusses in his armoury. For a start you have to admire him for fighting anybody; a lot of guys talk the talk, but he certainly walks the walk. Nobody wanted to face Forrest, he opened the door for Winky to get into big-time boxing and to be fair to him, he was the one calling Mayweather out from the start.
He also signs return clauses with no problem and I have nothing but respect for the way Shane Mosley goes about his business. Heck, to fight someone with Mayweather's ability and record at the age of 38 says it all!
He is also a fantastic boxer in his own right. He is though, far more comfortable when the other guy comes onto him. He looked so good against Margarito because Margarito is a pretty basic fighter. Everything Shane threw that night connected, but no way could you say he out-boxed him the way Mayweather would've done. He blasted him out of there when Floyd would've toyed with him, probably gone the distance.
But Mosley is, or at least has been, out of the best 12-round boxers I have seen for a long time. That last-second knockout of Mayorga proved that, as did the fights with De La Hoya. Yet recently he has been pretty inactive; this will be only his fifth fight in four years, so you have to wonder with his age, whether that is staying power still there. That inactivity though, might will be a plus.
If Mosley and his trainer Nazeem Richardson want to know how to beat Mayweather, they only need to look at the fight he has come closest to losing - against his Golden Boy partner De La Hoya. I thought, when Oscar faced Mayweather in 2007, that he could and perhaps should have won that fight - he certainly had it at the halfway stage.
What Oscar did that night - and what I would do to overcome Mayweather - is set a pace. But you have to set a pace and keep it up. Had Oscar been able to do that it would've been a different outcome; if ever Mosley needed to box for the full 12 rounds it is now. If you can keep Mayweather busy, it stops him settling into his rhythm, stops him setting anything up.
If Mosley can do what Oscar did, with perhaps a little more accuracy in his own punches, he does have a chance.
Reflexes
People say speed will come into it but I really don't think Mayweather will be bothered by that one bit. Even after that time out he has lightning reflexes and dazzling speed of his own and sooner or later I expect this to have the look of two fighters at very different stages of their careers.
The biggest question for me is how does Floyd Mayweather approach this? There's no doubt that Manny Pacquiao has set the bar with his recent performances and is now considered by most as boxing's pound-for-pound king. Look at what he did to their common opponents, De La Hoya and, although you could argue Floyd got him when he was still undefeated and at his best, Ricky Hatton.
Pacquiao did a complete job on both of them and that will have annoyed Mayweather. He is no longer universally looked upon as the best in the world in the back of his mind, he should want to emulate Pacquiao at least and really show us what he's got against Mosley.
If he wants that Pacquiao fight - and I still think he does - it will be no good out-boxing Shane at a distance, going to points. It is a big fight but would it be better for Mayweather if he went in there on Saturday and night and tried to knock seven bells out of him, it would make that fight far more attractive than it already is.
What might help Mayweather is the fact that Mosley always likes to lead off in fights. He doesn't like a lull in the action and to his credit - and at times, his detriment - he is always the one that wants to give the people what they have paid good money to see. Mayweather as we all know, doesn't give two hoots about that; he is happy to sit back, stay at distance all night long.
That means Mosley is going to have to come on to the best counter-puncher in the game today - and a guy who loves boxing off the back foot. If he is going to become the first man to beat Mayweather he has to be prepared to out-wait him at times and then hope he can keep up the pressure for the full 12 rounds.
As for the outcome, Mayweather on points is the sensible choice but if he really wants to show the world he is as good as Manny Pacquiao, we might see a bit more adventure from him. But Mosley knows what championship boxing is all about and it will take one helluva performance to get him out of there inside the distance - even at the age of 38.
