Shane Mosley signs contract to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. on May 1

Shane Mosley's attorney confirmed to The Times today that the Pomona world welterweight champion has signed a contract to fight unbeaten Floyd Mayweather Jr. on May 1, most likely at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Mosley's purse for the 147-pound fight will be his "biggest ever," attorney Judd Burstein said, declining to reveal terms. Mayweather has yet to sign his own deal agreement, but Burstein said he has been assured by the boxer's lead advisor, Leonard Ellerbe, that the signature would come sometime "in the next two days."

It is unclear whether the fight will be for Mosley's World Boxing Assn. welterweight belt, Burstein said.

Mosley, said Burstein, drove himself Friday to the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas, where a Burstein-represented fighter had a bout, and signed his deal in a hotel room.

"It's a fight people have wanted to see for a long time, but never happened for whatever reasons," Burstein said. "Now that it's going to happen, Shane is looking forward to doing what he and many of his fans have long thought he would do."

The fighters, who each spent the last decade ranked somewhere among the top in the lists of the best pound-for-pound boxers in the world, have won world titles in eight different weight classes.

The deal was struck with Mosley agreeing to all of Mayweather's stipulations for a stringent drug-testing protocol that will subject him to random blood and urine tests for performance-enhancing drugs all the way to fight night. Burstein said Mosley agreed to the arrangement "as long as Floyd takes the same test at the same time."

Mosley's 2003 decision victory over Oscar De La Hoya was tainted by his acknowledged use of designer steroids "the cream" and "the clear" and energy boosting EPO in the days before the bout. Mosley later explained that he took the substances unknowingly, believing they were legal supplements. He met with BALCO founder Victor Conte before using the substances.

Mayweather's push for drug testing resulted in the scrapped plans for him to fight Manny Pacquiao on March 13 in Las Vegas. Pacquiao will now fight Joshua Clottey in a welterweight bout on March 13 at Dallas Cowboys Stadium in Texas.

The 38-year-old Mosley was originally supposed to end a one-year layoff tonight after beating Antonio Margarito by ninth-round TKO last January at Staples Center, but his opponent Andre Berto had to withdraw because of the devastation of the earthquake in Haiti, where has family members.

Mosley prodded Mayweather and Pacquiao to fight him last year to no avail, as Mayweather (40-0) accepted a comeback fight that he won handily against the lighter and smaller Juan Manuel Marquez.

Mayweather, earlier this decade, suggested Mosley was dodging him, and after Mayweather's fame was boosted by a 2007 victory over De La Hoya, Mosley has claimed Mayweather was ducking him.

Now, with a Mayweather autograph, the long-awaited bout will happen.

-- Lance Pugmire

Source: latimesblogs.latimes.com

Mayweather vs Mosley overshadows Pacquiao vs Clottey

By Dave Lahr: If this was a chess match between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao, Floyd would have knocked off Pacquiao’s king with his latest move of setting up a May 1st bout against World Boxing Association welterweight champion Shane Mosley. In contrast, Pacquiao will have to settle for fighting former IBF welterweight champion Joshua Clottey, who is coming off of a recent loss to Miguel Cotto. There’s really no comparison between the Mayweather-Mosley and the Pacquiao-Clottey fight.


Hands down, the Mayweather-Mosley fight is the much more interesting bout of the two, and you got to give Mayweather a ton of credit for being intelligent to see the opportunity for a fight with Mosley and then be courageous enough to go for the fight. Pacquiao had an opportunity to fight Mosley last year but instead chose to fight Cotto for some odd reason.
In hindsight, the fight against Cotto seems like a mistake in my book because Cotto had been recently pulverized by Mexican Antonio Margarito only a year earlier, and many boxing fans felt that Cotto wasn’t the same fighter he once was. Pacquiao fans like to point out that Cotto won a controversial 12 round decision over Mosley in 2007, but what they fail to point out is that was before Cotto’s brutal beating at the hands of Antonio Margarito.

Yeah, Cotto beat Mosley by a controversial decision, but Cotto didn’t look like the same fighter after Margarito got through with him. This is why the Mosley fight should have been the opponent that Pacquiao fought instead of Cotto. But I can also understand why it would be an appealing fight. After all, with Cotto not looking like the same fighter, he would be less dangerous and the easier bout.

I got to hand it to Mayweather for setting up the Mosley fight. This was sure brilliance on his part. I think this fight is going to do a lot better than the Pacquiao vs. Clottey fight on pay per view. It might not do as well as far as selling more tickets to the fight. The MGM Grand, where the fight Mayweather-Mosley fight will be taking place, is much smaller than the Dallas Cowboy stadium.

But if the Mayweather-Mosley fight was going to take place at the Dallas Cowboy stadium, I have no doubts that it would do better than the Pacquiao-Clottey fight. The reason is because this is a competitive fight. You don’t know who’s going to win the fight. Mosley is a huge talent and is still fighting at a high level despite his advanced age. You can’t say the same thing about the Pacquiao-Clottey fight.

That’s going to be an easy win for Pacquiao. Clottey just lost to Cotto, and has few wins against top tier talent. He also has only one knockout in his last eleven fights, has a poor work rate and history of fading late in his fights. Clottey doesn’t move well and likes to cover up and focus on defending rather than attacking. In other words, Clottey will be like a punching bag with gloves.

That to me spells mismatch. If you had the choice of seeing a mismatch between Pacquiao and Clottey or a competitive fight between Mayweather and Mosley, which would you rather see? I think for most people it will be the Mayweather-Mosley fight.

Source: boxingnews24.com

Mosley, Mayweather reach terms

Shane Mosley and Floyd Mayweather Jr. have agreed to terms for a welterweight super fight, Mayweather adviser Leonard Ellerbe said Friday. Later Friday, Mosley signed his contract in Las Vegas, Mosley's attorney Judd Burstein told ESPN.com.

"Shane has signed. I sat with him [Friday] and we went through every provision of the contract and he signed," Burstein said. "He is excited to move forward with the bout."

Mayweather's signature is a formality, according to Burstein and Ellerbe.

"I confirmed with Leonard [on Friday night] that there are no issues," Burstein said.

"All of the deal points have been agreed to," Ellerbe said. "We still have to put pen to paper, but everything is agreed to. It's with the lawyers. Shane is a great fighter, one of the best of his era, and so is Floyd. It's going to be a great fight. It's a fight fans have wanted to see for a long time."

Ellerbe said that he expected Mayweather's paperwork to be completed in the next few days with a formal announcement likely next week.

Financial terms were not disclosed, but Mayweather has the option for an immediate rematch in the event he loses.

The fight came together after an unexpected turn of events.

First, Mayweather became available for a fight three weeks ago when negotiations with pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao disintegrated. They had agreed to all terms for a March 13 fight that loomed as the biggest in boxing -- except for a drug testing protocol.

They had agreed to random urine testing, but Mayweather also wanted random blood testing, even though that is not required under the rules of the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Pacquiao agreed only to three blood tests, but none within 24 days of the fight, and the third one immediately after the bout.

Mayweather has alluded to Pacquiao using performance-enhancing drugs, even though he has never produced any evidence, and Floyd Mayweather Sr. has outright said he believes Pacquiao uses.

The rancor over the drug testing issue caused the fight to fall apart and Pacquiao moved on. He will defend his version of the 147-pound title against former titlist Joshua Clottey on March 13 at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Then Mosley became available two weeks ago. He was scheduled to meet Andre Berto in a title unification bout at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas on Saturday night. However, Berto, a Haitian-American, withdrew from the bout after eight members of his extended family were killed in the earthquake in Haiti.

Immediately after the cancellation of Mosley-Berto, Mosley and Mayweather -- the former welterweight champ and pound-for-pound king until giving up the mantle during a brief retirement -- began negotiating.

"The negotiations were very cordial and went very smoothly," Ellerbe said.

Mosley has agreed to undergo random blood and urine testing, as has Mayweather, Ellerbe said.

Mosley has admitted to using PEDs and was connected to the BALCO scandal. Although he publicly denied using PEDs for years, Mosley admitted during grand jury testimony, which was later released, that he used designer steroids "the clear" and "the cream" and injected himself with EPO, a blood oxygen enhancer, during the lead-up to his 2003 rematch with Oscar De La Hoya. Mosley said he took the steroids unknowingly.

"Floyd only wants to be sure of an even playing field no matter who he fights," Ellerbe said.

Mayweather (40-0, 25 KOs), a five-division champion, and Mosley (46-5, 39 KOs), a three-division champion, have seemingly been on a collision course since the late 1990s, when Mosley was lightweight champion and Mayweather was junior lightweight champion.

Although their careers took different paths, talk of a potential fight heated back up in 2006 after Mosley's two knockouts of Fernando Vargas, but talks never got too serious.

However, Mosley stepped up his call for a fight with Mayweather, 32, last year after Mayweather ended his 18-month retirement. After Mayweather easily beat lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez in a lopsided decision in September, Mosley crashed his post-fight interview in the ring and called him out to his face.

It didn't look like Mosley would get the fight because two months later, Pacquiao knocked out Miguel Cotto and talks began for Pacquiao-Mayweather.

Mosley, 38, hasn't fought since last January, when he upset Antonio Margarito to win his title via ninth-round knockout.

Source: espn.go.com