May Day! May Day! Now It’s Official: Mayweather vs. Mosley
By William Trillo
After almost a week of wondering why Floyd Mayweather Jr. had not signed the contract to make the May 1st Las Vegas battle with Shane Mosley official, the wheels are finally officially in motion as Mayweather scratched his name on a contract that was promptly put into Golden Boy Promotion’s Richard Schaefer possession. Shortly after Mayweather had signed the contract Schaefer contacted yours truly saying, “William, Just got back from a meeting and I have the contract signed. The fight is on!”
This time there was no premature speculation or innuendo, (more on that later), the fight is a done and if all goes according to plan, Floyd and Shane will be in Miami this weekend to be a part of the Super Bowl festivities and of course they will be there to pump the volume up on a fight that is a sure fire can’t miss event!
It’s no secret that there were rumblings that Mayweather was looking for a way out when he went MIA for a few days after Shane put his autograph to paper, but whatever rumors were out there can now be put to bed, Floyd has autographed the contract!
The fight that will be held at The MGM Grand in Las Vegas on the first of May promises to be a very interesting and hard fought test of will, strength and finesse. Throw in the fact that there is no love lost between Shane and Floyd and what you have here is exactly what the drug testing doctor ordered.
Yes, Shane has agreed to Mayweather’s Olympic style drug testing demands. Coming from a guy who is an admitted PED abuser that is a big step and worthy of at least a little praise. There has not been much more revealed about the contract but it is likely Floyd came out with the lions share of the purse and other concessions, something Mosley most likely was willing to put aside as he has been wanting to tear out a pound of Mayweather’s flesh for years, and now he has his chance to do it.
For Floyd, this is his proving ground. He has said he wants to fight only the best of his generation and now he is finally going to do it. Signing the contract is the first step to proving he is the fighter he has always claimed he is and a victory over Mosley would make a lot of reporters like me eat a plate full of crow for questioning Floyd’s testicular fortitude…a win over Mosley would put a lot of us in our place. I’ll even go so far to say that a loss to Mosley won’t be as detrimental to Floyd’s career as he thinks if he goes out there and makes a fight out of it. But he has to fight!
Personally I think that even though Shane is the one with his WBA Welterweight Championship belt at stake it’s Floyd who has more to lose if he gets beat. You can assume Mayweather feels the same.
The next hurdle we have to cross now is getting these guys to the ring on May 1st. There is 2 months between now and fight night and that’s a lot of time for something crazy to happen. If the worst does happen and this fight gets canceled or postponed, in light of all that has transpired in boxing recently, no one is going to take it lightly, especially the fans.
We don’t want to hear about phantom rib injuries. We don’t want to find out Floyd twisted his leg in a late night basketball game nor do we want to hear that Shane has wrenched his back in some ill advised snow boarding run in Big Bear. We want these guys to climb into the ring on May 1st and if they don’t, trust me, there is going to be hell to pay!
And To Those Scribes Who Jumped The Gun…
Allow me to take you back in time if I may. It was this past Tuesday night and the fact that Floyd had not yet signed the contract was becoming a bit of an issue. It was quite a few days earlier that Yahoo’s Kevin Iole amongst others had proclaimed the fight a done deal because Leonard “Hot Flashes” Ellerbe had told them Floyd would sign the contract in 2 days. I told everyone immediately that stories that THE FIGHT IS ON were very premature. As it turned out 2 days turned into 3-4 and then 5 and the press was getting anxious.
It was then that I wrote an email to Golden Boy’s Richard Schaefer saying:
Dear Richard,
I am writing in regards to the premature announcements on Mosley vs. Mayweather being a done deal. Every website on the planet has written that the fight was on. That includes Yahoo/Ring Online writer Kevin Iole who over a week ago deemed this fight a done deal and claimed it was set for May 1st. Yet here we are on late Tuesday afternoon some 5 days after Leonard Ellerbe assured everyone Floyd would sign the contract and still we have nothing.
With the fight still in limbo Schaefer took the time to respond by saying:
Dear William,
I agree totally with your statement regarding pre-mature announcements. That is why you did not see me making any statements. I don’t know why so many reporters always like to “jump the gun”. I think they do a disservice to the fighters, the sport and their readers. The fact is that Mayweather still has not signed… Regards, Richard
My point exactly when I wrote my article on Saturday!
Why do reporters like to jump the gun?
Because in this day and age of instant news via the Internet, getting news up first is a badge of honor, but when you are jumping the gun just to say you got things up first you are, to quote Schaefer, “Doing a disservice to the fighters, the sport and their readers.”
Dictionary.com defines disservice this way: to provide inadequate or faulty service.
Nice work! You must be proud!
By the way after we posted the “official” news of the Mayweather signing on Wednesday I checked the sites that had posted the premature “Done Deal” news last week, and guess what…NOTHING!
I guess they were all asleep at the wheel, in the buffet line at their favorite “All You Can Eat” or what is most likely is nobody had spoon fed them the information yet.
Again….. Nice work! You must be proud!
Check out www.Pound4Pound.com for all the latest boxing news.
My biggest fear is this fight will implode for whatever reason and it won’t see the light of the Las Vegas strip.
to all the people that hated on Money for not figting nobody but di_k ride pacman for fighting the same guys. Let me see Clottey or Mosely who is better. Stop hating Mayweather is going to beat shane then pacman and the haters will still find something to say.
this is a move in the right direction for floyd and as will says there is a huge chance here for floyd to prove all the haters wrong. but he can not lose and he can not pull out of the fight. if floyd wins then we can all agree he is the man. a loss or worse another fake injury and a cancelation and you can expect pretty boy to get crucified by media and fans alike
I hate to rain on Floyd’s parade but one fight doesn’t make up for 8 years of lackluster fights. Duran, Leonard, Hearns, Hagler, Ali, Frazier, Foreman, Chavez, Mosley, De La Hoya, Trinidad, Cotto, and etc. fought more than one tough fight in 8 years. To me this is his first big challenge since the second Castillo fight in 2002. Floyd can’t just fight a 38 year old Mosley and expect to make up for 8 years of picking easy fights. However I do give him MAJOR credit for taking this fight!!!!
LOL in the buffet line at their favorite “All You Can Eat” LOL
APPARENTLY HE HAS SEEN IOLE, RAFAEL,SMITH AND THE REST OF THE ROTUND MEDIA MEMBERS UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL. HOW THESE HIPPOS CAN COVER ANY SPORT AT ALL MUCH LESS BOXING IS BESIDE ME. THEY HAVE NOT ONE OUNCE OF DIGNITY OR SELF RESPECT SHOWING UP ON PRESS ROW LOOKING LIKE THEY DO.
Mayweather will beat Mosley and the haters will say Pacman, then Pacma’s time will come and he shall be beaten, then guess what, it will be either Berto, Bradley or Peterson (especialy after the workout rumours with Mayweather). Now i would like to know when will he ever be axcepted, i just want to know what does it take to the nower days boxing fans to axcept pure boxing talent, regadless how talkative or flashy a person is ?
Mosley is a good boxer, but people should not be fooled by his latest win over Magarito, Magarito was a perfect opponent to be crushed by Mosley, he is not that good when it comes to boxing. Now if he is neutralised by Mayweather in a way that he looks so bad, so bad i say (Mayweather can box Mosley 12 rounds) , the haters will say Mayweather fought an old man. He is in a no win situation, i have been into boxing for more than 20 years and its so sad when people doesnt remember Mayweathers excellence, against Hernandez, Chavez, Corrales, Castillo, Ndou , Judah, Baldimor, Gatti, De La Hoya, Hatton. I mean come on people those were tough opponents.
wow after all these years of questioning when he would fight mosely he does and now everyone wants to break down mosely name. Amazing this is the same thing that happened after he beat delahoya and hatton. But the funny thing is all the pactard fans after breaking down delahoya and hatton name they build them back up when pactard fought them. No matter who he fights he ALWAYS gets hated on. After he beats mosely and pactard everyone is going to say why hasn’t he fought williams or berto or whoever the next guy is that mayweather is scared of now. STOP THE HATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jeff, whats stupid is the one breaking down Mosley that posted above you is a FLOYD FAN. So who’s hating? lol.
Threat, I agree with you on that one. But if you know boxing even if your a floyd fan you know Mosely is a great fighter who will give his all against Floyd and it should be a great fight. I have to be honest I always thought that Hatton was overrated but the fact that people said that after the floyd fight but not before hatton pacman is what gets to me. As far as delahoya if you know boxing that fight wasn’t even close floyd threw 200 less punches and landed 100 more you can’t really be more dominate than that. I agree floyd may have duck some people (Margarito) but I believe its more about those where high risk low reward (money) fight. When it comes to big big Money floyd will be force to fight the best and i believe he will do very well against all the best in the world.
Malibongwe, jeff taylor. R U 2 Serious? Malibongwe you named Hernandez, Chavez, Corrales, Castillo, Ndou , Judah, Baldimor, Gatti, De La Hoya, Hatton. I believe Mosley, Cotto, Pac-Man, beats all of them. jeff taylor De La Hoya & Hatton. DLH, it was a close split decision win in a snoozer. Hatton was a tenth round KO at 147 were Hatton only fought once and that fight was an 70% snoozer. The Marquez fight was a snoozer. Postcard Fans??? Real fans know that from 2002 until now Mayweather doesn’t have fights against Cotto, Mosely, Forrest, Margarito, Williams, Wright, Clottey, Pac-Man, Cintron, etc. Now ALL of those guys I named have at least 2 fights with the names mentioned with the exception of Pac because he has only fought Cotto from the list of names. Now are there any real fight fans that will compare Hernandez, Chavez, Corrales, Castillo, Ndou , Judah, Baldimor, Gatti, De La Hoya, Hatton to Cotto, Mosely, Forrest, Margarito, Williams, Wright, Clottey, Pac-Man, Cintron???? Yes I know they are in different weight classes. Bottom line, Floyd has NOT fought top guys in the past 8 years!!!! Once he does win or loose he will get his due credit. Is it hating to say Cotto has fought Mosley, Margarito, Clottey, and Pac and Mayweather hasn’t? Is it hating to say Mosley fought Wright, Forrest, Cotto, and Margarito and Mayweather hasn’t? If stating facts makes you a hater then give me a P.H.D. (Player Hater Degree)
M-Dubb you make some good points but I never question who Mosely resume it is wonderful for sure. You have to realize that mayweather was in a different weight class during the time. Plus you want to bring up hattons weight didn’t mayweather fight delahoya at 154 a higher weight class then ever. Then everyone complains that Marquez was to small but Mayweather was not only the stronger fighter he was the faster fighter. You calling the delahoya and hatton fights snoozer is your opioion and I respect. but I grew up a pernall whitaker fan another fighter everyone said is boring. I like fighter that hit and don’t get hit. Does it make Gatti a great fighter because he was in exiciting fights? Why take the risk of getting hit when you are outclassing a picking people apart at will? Mosely has a better resume then floyd i cant argue that at all. But floyd tried to fight him 10 years ago. Does pac have floyd resume who has he beat that made him the star he is today that floyd didn’t beat besides Cotto who hasn’t been the same since the margarito fight? Now he is fight a fighter who lost to a fighter he just beat and floyd is fighting a all time hall of famer. There is a lot of people before clottey that pac should have fought and he is not catching any heat.
plus of the names you have on the list forrest wright and cintron fought almost all there fights at 154.
Taylor you really need to give it a rest. clottey or mosley, who is better???? what the hell stupid kind of question is that?? and by the way, ask floyd to fight clottey, he will make one of his patended excuses why he won’t. here is a little morsel for you, when ugly boy floyd pulls out of this fight because he hurt his pinky finger what are you going to say then? when it happens i will come looking for you.
Dax when has floyd pulled out of a fight. Was he really so scared of Marquez that he delayed the fight from July to Sep? All i’m asking is if the floyd was fighting clottey and pac was fighting mosely everyone would say floyd is a bitch but with pac he get a pass.
mayweather who? what’s his name? ahhh, that clinching dancer, who was asked to buy a bottle of vinegar, but was mistaken to be a boxer.
C’mon, floydie is a gay.
Ricky that would be undefeated 40-0 maywather.
Baby Joe Mesi was 36-0. Was he the greatest heavyweright ever lived? Holyfeield with all his losses will be more legendary than Mesi will ever be. The record doesnt mean that much.