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Ring team Mosley makes boxing a family affair
Posted: Wednesday June 14, 2000 05:42 PM
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Call them Team Mosley, because this is one father-son relationship that works in a sport where father-son combinations often have mixed as well as oil and water. "I think communications is the key to our relationship," said Sugar Shane Mosley, managed and trained by his father, Jack. "We're on the same page. We're both shooting for the same goal, to be the best we can be as a team. That makes it easier." The immediate goal for the Mosleys is for unbeaten Shane, a former lightweight champion, to win the WBC welterweight title from Oscar De La Hoya Saturday night in the Staples Center. "When he played basketball, baseball and track, I didn't get in his way, I let him do them," Jack Mosley said Wednesday. "Shane had a childhood, in other words." The father-son relationship is set aside in the gym. "In the gym we're working -- trainer and fighter," the father said. While he participated in other sports, the 28-year-old Shane said, "I always knew I'd be a pro fighter. I like basketball, but I'm kind of short." The 5-foot-9 Mosley goes into his biggest challenge with a 34-0 record, with 32 knockouts. He won the IBF lightweight title in 1997 and defended it eight times before relinquishing it last year to campaign as a welterweight. "I just think Shane is the best in the world," Jack said. "I don't know about Oscar. Shane is the best there is right now. He's got speed and power in a combination that not many people have seen recently. Everything he throws is hard and fast." De La Hoya knows Mosley. "I rate his speed from one to 10 as a 10 and his power is a 10," said the 27-year-old De La Hoya, who stands 5-foot-11. "I think everything he does is a 10 because he's an all-around great fighter. Great fighters bring the best out of me." The best of De La Hoya, who grew up in East Los Angeles, is what his fans want to see, especially in light of his welterweight title loss to Felix Trinidad. Although a lot of people, including De La Hoya, thought he won the fight, he was criticized for staying away from Trinidad in the final three rounds. "I wasn't impressed with how he handled the later rounds," said Mosley, who lives in nearby Pomona. "He didn't want to get into a battle with Trinidad - a true battle." "I think that decision helped me to refocus and rededicate myself," said De La Hoya [32-1, 26 knockouts], who also has held junior lightweight, lightweight and junior welterweight titles. "I know if I'm 100 percent in shape, nobody can beat me." De La Hoya is WBC welterweight champion because he stopped Derrell Coley in the seventh round at Madison Square on Feb. 26. The bout was a WBC elimination bout, with the winner to become champion if Trinidad relinquished the title, which he did. Trinidad also gave up the WBA and IBF welterweight titles after he won the WBA super welterweight title from David Reid. The fight, the first in the 21,000-seat Staples Center, will be carried on pay-per-view (TVKO), with the telecast to start at 9 p.m. EDT.
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