Shane Mosley’s Fighter Mentality Began Early and Led to a Hall-of-Fame Career

Shane Mosley was supposed to be inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame this week. His induction ceremony, along with Bernard Hopkins and Juan Manuel Marquez, was postponed because of the coronavirus (COVID-19). The three will now go in with the 2021 class that likely would include Floyd Maywerather Jr. next year. While Mosley has to wait another year for his big day, he took some time to look back on his Hall-of-Fame career.

‘Sugar’ Shane Mosley’s boxing career

Shane Mosley began his professional boxing career in 1993 and wound up winning the lightweight, welterweight, and junior middleweight titles. He finished his career with a 49-10-1 record. Of those 49 victories, 41 came via knockout.

In 1998, Mosley was named Fighter of the Year by the Boxing Writers Association of America. In 2000 and 2001, he was named the best active pound-for-pound boxer by The Ring. Mosley won the first 38 fights in his professional career. His biggest fight during that stretch was a split-decision win over Oscar De La Hoya in a bout The Ring billed as the Event of the Year.

Mosley suffered his first loss at the hands of Vernon Forrest on Jan. 26, 2002, and that began a skid of four losses in five decisions, including another to Forrest six months after his first defeat. His only win in that stretch was a rematch with De La Hoya. Late in his career, Mosley lost to both Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao in unanimous decisions.

Mosley gets the Hall call

‘Sugar’ Shane Mosley was supposed to be enshrined into the International Boxing Hall of Fame this week, but instead, he and the others will be going in ith the 2021 class next year. While the pandemic postponed the event, Mosley was still very excited to get word he will be a Hall of Famer.

“I’m so happy and honored. I’ve worked my whole life for this,” Mosley said to ESPN. “Even when I started as a kid at 8 years old I knew this is what I wanted to do and what I wanted to be. I have accomplished my goals to be one of the greats and go into the Hall of Fame, so this is a great honor.”

“It’s a great privilege,” ‘Sugar’ Shane told Boxing Social. “You know, when I was a kid I trained to become a great fighter. I wanted to reach the top and be recognized as one of the greats. Getting into the Hall of Fame is a great accomplishment. It’s gonna be a great occasion.”

Mosley had that fire since he was 5 years old

Shane Mosley said he’s always had that competitive fire and that helped push him through his boxing career. “That developed from within,” he told Boxing Social. “Ever since I was about five years old I was always the kid that wanted to win and had to win. When I turned about eight and I came to a boxing gym I was excited and knew I was going to be one of the great ones because although I was fairly small as a kid, all the other kids were bigger than me, but I was the best when we did football, or kickball or basketball or whatever it was.”

Mosley loved boxing because it was just him against his opponent. There was nobody else to blame. “I loved boxing because it was a one-on-one sport,” he said. “When I played team sports I would get mad at the other players on the team for not playing as well or trying as hard as I did. But when it came to boxing it was one-on-one and I could only blame myself. I couldn’t blame anybody else, and I knew that.”

He also said that as a professional, it was his first fight with Oscar De La Hoya that helped put him on the map. “The first fight with De La Hoya is definitely when the world got to see how great of a fighter I was,” he said. “I’d come from lightweight all the way to welterweight and people were able to see that I wasn’t just a world champion, but that I was a great fighter as well.”