THE 100 GREATEST BOXERS OF ALL-TIME #92: SHANE MOSLEY

Kenneth Bridgham

4 min readNov 11, 2022

“SUGAR SHANE”

49 WINS (41 BY KO), 10 LOSSES, 1 DRAW

IBF Lightweight Titleholder 1997–1999

World Welterweight Champion 2000–2002

World Junior Middleweight Champion 2003–2004

Boxing Writers Association of America Fighter of the Year 1998

International Boxing Hall of Fame Inductee 2020

In the first couple of years of the twenty-first century, Sugar Shane Mosley was rated by many boxing pundits as the best pound-for-pound boxer on the planet. He possessed hair-trigger reflexes, debilitating punching power, an underrated chin, and a versatile set of skills. Over time, he would collect major belts in three weight classes and win the lineal world championships of two. He was the first man to convincingly defeat Hall of Famer and multi-division champion Oscar De La Hoya, and the only man to beat De La Hoya twice. Mosley fought most of the major stars at or near his chosen weight classes, though he did not always win as he aged and climbed up the weight division ladder.

Raised in Pomona, CA, Mosley was a product of the fruitful amateur boxing programs in and around Los Angeles during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Under the tutelage of his father Jack Mosley, he was a decorated amateur, winning or medaling in several U.S. and international tournaments. Turning pro as a lightweight in 1993 at age 21, he went on to win 22 straight, 21 by knockout, en route to challenging undefeated Phillip Holliday for recognition as the IBF lightweight champion on August 2, 1997, at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut. He took the belt via unanimous decision.

Though Shane never unified the lightweight championship with the other belt holders in the division, lightweight is considered by many to have been his best weight. An active titleholder, he would go on to defend the IBF belt eight times in less than two years, winning all by knockout. Among his challengers was former world champion Jesse James Leija, who he stopped in nine rounds. Many believe that, had he stayed longer at lightweight, he would have been considered one of the outstanding champions in the division’s history.

As the twentieth century gave way to the twenty-first, several of the biggest names in the sport were operating two divisions up from Mosley, at welterweight. Lured by the desire for bigger purses and bigger challenges, he leap-frogged over the junior welterweight class and took on the biggest star of them all, Mexican American superstar De La Hoya. On June 27, 2000, in the debut boxing match at the Staples Center, the two Los Angeles rivals engaged in a memorable, action-packed war. Mosley took the fight to the quick and heavy-handed De La Hoya and won by split decision. Though De La Hoya had previously lost once to Felix Trinidad a year earlier, many thought that decision bogus, and thus Mosley gained a tremendous amount of respect for moving up in weight and beating a man many considered the best in the division. The Ring and other media outlets named him not only the Fighter of the Year, but the best boxer in the world.

Moving up to junior middleweight after losing his welterweight belt to amateur rival Vernon Forrest in a shocking upset, Mosley beat De La Hoya second time on September 13, 2003, at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. This time, De La Hoya tried to outbox Mosley, but the judges felt Mosley landed the harder punches and awarded him a close decision victory. It should be noted that Shane’s later admission to taking illegal steroids while preparing for the bout somewhat tarnished his image.

Mosley lost the junior middleweight crown to the naturally bigger defensive master Winky Wright in 2004. Despite victories over respected contenders Fernando Vargas and Luis Collazo in the next couple of years, he was thought to be a fading star by 2009, when he dropped back down to welterweight and rebounded with a shockingly dominant demolition of durable Mexican Antonio Margarito on January 24 at the Staples Center. His mixture of aggression and hand speed left Margarito helpless, prompting the referee’s intervention in round nine.

Shane’s reigns as champion at both welterweight and junior middleweight were brief, but he continued to fight superb talents not only of his generation but the next over a 23-year pro career, not retiring until age 44 in 2016. In his 61 pro bouts, he was only stopped once.